A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against LinkedIn and Google, alleging that they improperly received confidential data from trackers on California’s health insurance exchange website. The lawsuit claims that the tech companies received health data from web trackers on coveredca.com without the knowledge or consent of users.
The investigation that led to the lawsuit found that trackers on the website sent information on visitors to LinkedIn through a tool called the Insight Tag. This information included whether visitors were pregnant, blind, transgender, or had experienced domestic abuse. The trackers also monitored information on visitors’ searches for medical providers and how often they used prescription drugs.
The government entity that operates the exchange, Covered California, has since removed the trackers. A spokesperson said they had been used as part of an advertising campaign that began in February 2024.
The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California, cites forensic testing and research by the plaintiff, an anonymous California woman, to allege that LinkedIn and Google received health data from web trackers on coveredca.com without the knowledge or consent of users. The plaintiff alleges that she filled out information on Covered California around June of last year, and had that information sent to LinkedIn and Google.
The suit seeks to represent everyone who had information transmitted to the tech companies by Covered California. The lawsuit alleges that the tracking runs afoul of California and federal laws, including the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
A LinkedIn spokesperson said that its policies prohibit customers from installing the Insight Tag on web pages that collect or contain sensitive data, including pages offering health-related services.
Millions of people in the state have received coverage through Covered California, set up under the Affordable Care Act as a way for Californians to quickly and easily shop for insurance and compare plans.
Since the tracking was revealed, the story has also drawn the attention of lawmakers. A California congressman has called on the federal Health and Human Services Department to investigate the exchange’s sharing of data to LinkedIn. The congressman sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services asking it to investigate whether the tracking may have violated privacy laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
The congressman’s letter asks the agency to determine how many people were affected by the tracking, and how to prevent something like this in the future.
