Health care company’s data breach now a ‘privacy event’?

Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 8, 2026

Last fall, I received a letter from a large health care company informing me that they had a “Privacy Event,” which may have involved my data. I’m sure most readers will recognize this type of notification. In my experience it’s pretty common that these outfits fumble sensitive information, but I want to congratulate whatever spin doctor came up with this euphemism.

To me it seems like anything but a “privacy event.” An unfortunate “Publicity Event” is more accurate.. They go on to let me know that the exposed data might include my name, address, date of birth and email address. Oh, and also perhaps all my health insurance information, Medicare and Medicaid particulars, doctors, lists of medications, diagnoses, test results, financial information such as Social Security number, bank accounts with balances, card numbers and drivers license number.

Wow!

They could have saved time by just listing the things that they managed to keep confidential. Given the number of these letters I get annually, I wonder if my records might actually be safer on the dark web?

Tony Smith

Snohomish