Impact of health data breach hitting Congress 'could be extraordinary'

FILE - The U.S. Capitol is shown June 5, 2003 in Washington, DC. (Stefan Zaklin/Getty Images)WASHINGTON - House leaders say the impact of a hack of a health insurance marketplace used by members of Congress "could be extraordinary," exposing sensitive personal data of lawmakers, their employees and families.

In all, thousands of people could be affected.DC Health Link, which runs the exchange, said an unspecified number of customers were impacted and it was notifying them and working with law enforcement to quantify the damage.

It said it was offering identity theft service to those affected and extending credit monitoring to all customers.Some 11,000 of the exchange’s more than 100,000 participants work in the House and Senate — in the nation's capital and district offices across the nation — or are relatives.In a letter to the exchange's director posted on Twitter, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said the breach "significantly increase the risk that Members, staff and their families will experience identity theft, financial crimes, and physical threats." The stolen data includes Social Security numbers, phones, addresses, emails and employer names.The FBI said in a brief statement Wednesday evening it was aware of the incident and was assisting.In the letter, McCarthy and Jeffries said the FBI had not yet determined the extent of the breach but that thousands of House members, employees and their families have enrolled in health insurance through DC Health Link since 2014. "The size and scope of impacted House customers could be extraordinary."They said the FBI told them it was able to purchase the stolen data on the dark web, where it was offered for sale for an.