Dental coverage insurance cards were accidentally sent out recently to a number of UCLA students who had waived the UC Student Health Insurance Plan for the academic year.
The cards came with a letter welcoming the recipient to the Delta Dental plan, and providing information about how to make insurance claims.
The error occurred sometime in the past two weeks, said Heather Pineda, director of UC SHIP.
She did not know how many students received the cards. Both undergraduate and graduate students were affected, she said.
The statement on the Arthur Ashe and Wellness Center’s UC SHIP Insurance Info website asked students who mistakenly received the cards to destroy them. Students will not be charged for the dental plan.
Fourth-year history student Lydia Mazuryk said she was alarmed to receive the card, since she had waived UC SHIP and wasn’t expecting to be part of its dental plan.
“I thought they had charged me in error,” Mazuryk said.
Besides names and addresses, it is unclear what personal information Delta Dental has about the students who received the cards. Social security numbers and student identification numbers were not given to the company, Pineda said.
The personal information Delta Dental does have will be purged from their system, Pineda said.
Barbara Rabinowitz, insurance manager at the UCLA Arthur Ashe Health and Wellness Center, declined to comment. Delta Dental did not return a request for comment.