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Medibank faces class action investigation
After millions of customers’ data was compromised in a data breach, two law firms have joined forces to investigate a class action claim against Medibank and ahm.
Lauren Croft
Following a massive data breach, a class action investigation is currently underway by Bannister Law Class Actions and Centennial Lawyers — which allege that Medibank breached the Privacy Act.
According to Medibank Private, hackers have been able to access names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses for almost 10 million current and former customers, as well as ahm customers’ Medicare numbers.
“Health claims data for around 160,000 Medibank customers, around 300,000 ahm customers, and around 20,000 international customers [were accessed]. This includes service provider name and location, where customers received certain medical services, and codes associated with diagnosis and procedures administered,” the insurer stated.
“Additionally, around 5,200 My Home Hospital (MHH) patients have had some personal and health claims data accessed, and around 2,900 next of kin of these patients have had some contact details accessed.”
The two law firms have called for all affected customers — both international and domestic — to register for the class action, which will investigate whether Medibank breached their privacy policy and the terms of their contract of the medical insurance they provided to their customers. The investigation will also assess whether damages should be paid to Medibank customers as a result of their breaches.
“We believe the data breach is a betrayal of Medibank Private’s customers and a breach of the Privacy Act. Medibank has a duty to keep this kind of information confidential,” the firms said in a joint statement.
“This latest data breach exposes the lack of safeguards in place to prevent such personal and private information being released to wrongdoers, and Medibank and ahm have failed policyholders in these circumstances.”
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
