A federal judge dismissed most of a class-action lawsuit alleging the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association shared federal employees’ health-related website data with TikTok, Meta, Google and LinkedIn without consent.
The lawsuit dates back to 2023. A January 2024 amended complaint from federal employees and retirees said BCBS supplies health coverage to more than 5.5 million federal employees, retirees and family members, making it the largest health insurer for this workforce.
BCBS runs a website, fepblue.org, for federal employees seeking coverage, doctors and medical information. The lawsuit alleged that BCBS permits third-party technology companies to access employees’ website activities, “including specific searches for sensitive health-related topics.”
“Defendant breached its duty to safeguard medical information against unauthorized dissemination and violated employees’ privacy rights under state and federal law,” the lawsuit said.
However, on Aug. 7, a federal judge in northern Illinois dismissed claims pertaining to common law, the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Illinois Computer Tampering Act and the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute. A claim related to the California Invasion of Privacy Act survived because BCBS could possibly be liable through aiding and abetting.
Unlike the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute, the California law does not have the same “surreptitious manner” requirement. For other claims, the judge determined the plaintiffs did not plausibly allege exposure of individually identifiable health information, and the plaintiffs did not make allegations within the scope of the Illinois Computer Tampering Act, either.
Plaintiffs have until Sept. 4 to amend.
BCBS told Becker’s it does not comment on ongoing litigation. Becker’s also contacted the plaintiffs’ legal team and will update this story if more information becomes available.
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