Thousands of HIV patients whose names and conditions werevisible through glassine envelopes sent through the mail willshare $17 million that Aetna Insurance Co. has agreed to pay insettlement of claims that the insurer failed to protect theindividuals’ privacy.

The settlement, upon judicial approval, would resolve anationwide class action breach of privacy lawsuit filed in federal court in Philadelphia inAugust over, ironically, notices mailed as part of a settlementof a previous class action claiming the health insurer’s mail orderrequirement for medications violated HIV patients’privacy.

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The lawsuit was brought on behalf of current and former Aetnacustomers taking medication to treat HIV or PrEP, a pre-exposureprophylactic medication. The lead plaintiff is a man using apseudonym who, according to court papers, feared “severe harm”would befall him should his true identity be revealed.

According to the proposed settlement agreement, Hartford,Connecticut-based Aetna would pay $17,161,200 to the plaintiffs—abase payment of at least $500 to each of the nearly 12,000 patientswho were sent the glassine window envelopes, through whichinstructions for filling HIV medications were clearly visible. Thissettlement amount will also be used to pay $75 each to customerswhose private health information Aetna improperly disclosed to itslawyers and mail vendor.

The settlement also allows patients who were sent the allegedlyinvasive notices and who can demonstrate financial or nonfinancialharm to submit claims for additional monetary awards.

In the lead plaintiff’s case, one of his family members foundthe mailing and believed he was living with HIV and had notconfided in his family. He was then forced to admit his conditionto his family, according to the complaint.

“HIV still has a negative stigma associated with it, and I ampleased that this encouraging agreement with Aetna shows thatHIV-related information warrants special care,” the lead plaintiffsaid in a statement released by the AIDS LawProject of Pennsylvania. The nonprofit public interest law firmthat works to protect the legal rights of people living with HIV inPennsylvania and South New Jersey teamed up with Philadelphia-basedclass action firm Berger & Montague and the Legal Action Centeron the suit.

In an emailed statement, Aetna said the company is implementingmeasures to ensure that an incident like this does not happenagain.

“Through our outreach efforts, immediate relief program and thissettlement we have worked to address the potential impact tomembers following this unfortunate incident,” according to thestatement.

Frederick Santarelli of Elliott Greenleaf in Blue Bell,Pennsylvania, and Matthew Kanny and Donna Wilson, partners in theLos Angeles office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, representedAetna in the settlement.

The incident giving rise to the agreement is believed to be theworld’s largest data breach involving HIV privacy, according toRonda Goldfein, executive director of the AIDSLaw Project.

“The fear of losing control of HIV-related information and theresulting risk of discrimination are barriers to health care,”Goldfein said in a statement. “This settlement reinforces theimportance of keeping such information private, and we hope itreassures people living with HIV, or those on PrEP, that they donot have to choose between privacy and health care.”