Northern Insurance takes the privacy and security of your data very seriously. We want to inform you of the steps we take to ensure the privacy of your data - and also let you know what you can do to help

Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services and its affiliated companies are committed to maintaining the privacy of those who communicate with us through our Web site (the "site").

We have created this Privacy Policy, effective February 1, 2004, in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to your privacy and to make clear what happens to any information we collect. This Policy also discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for the site.

Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services has a Notice of Privacy Practices that describes how it uses and discloses protected health information; the individual's rights to access, to request amendments, restrictions, and an accounting of disclosures of protected health information; and the procedures for filing complaints.

Occasionally, the terms of this Policy may change. We reserve the right to change this Policy without notice to our users.

Your use of our site is also subject to the Terms of Use

Security:

Our site requires users to give us unique identifiers in order to log into many areas of the site. These identifiers include, as appropriate, the subscriber identification number, provider identification number, employer identification number, and/or an assigned personal identification number (PIN). We utilize these unique identifiers to verify the user's identity and eligibility, in order to protect our members from the release of sensitive or personally identifiable information to unauthorized users.

You must take responsible and appropriate steps to safeguard your identification numbers to help protect your privacy. Our site has additional security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and/or unauthorized alteration of the information under our control, including but not limited to:

• Built-in firewalls (a combination of computer hardware and software) to keep unauthorized users from accessing information through Northern Insurance Services, Inc. computer network.
• Encryption technology, including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for certain communications.

We aim to protect and keep confidential all information which is voluntarily provided to Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services through this site, and to treat such information with the same consideration and confidentiality as any information sent to us by the US mail or communicated to us by telephone. The nature of the Internet, however, prevents us from guaranteeing the confidentiality of information we receive through the site or via e-mail. If you wish, you may contact us instead by telephone at the telephone number listed below.

Please note that this site contains links to other parties' websites.
Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such other websites.

Information Gathering:

Personally Identifiable Information. Personally identifiable information means data unique to the user, such as a name, address, email address, social security number, date of birth, or telephone number. Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services will not collect personally identifiable information about you unless you provide us that information voluntarily.

Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services may collect personally identifiable information about you from you on an application and order forms, through requests for information, products or services, or in order to fulfill orders, deliver requested materials and information about health insurance carriers to you, respond to your questions, or deliver a product or service. We also use your contact information to get in touch with you when necessary. Users may opt-out of receiving future mailings; see the "Opt-Out/Changes" section below.

If you provide personally identifiable information to us voluntarily through our site, we will not sell, license or transmit that information outside Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services and those affiliated companies involved in administering or providing services for our health benefits plans, unless you or your representative expressly authorize us to do so.

We will disclose personally identifiable information in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and will require the recipient to protect the information and use it only for the purpose provided.

Internet Protocol Addresses:

An Internet Protocol address is a number that automatically identifies the computer/machine you have used to access the Internet, the way a phone number identifies you on the phone system. The address enables our server to send you the web pages that you want to visit, and it may disclose the server owned by your Internet Service Provider. We utilize your Internet Protocol address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our site.

Cookies:

Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to a user's computer for purposes of storing information about a user's preferences. Just as many major Web sites use cookies as a standard practice to provide useful features when a user visits the site, we use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a user's computer. A user can set his or her browser to refuse cookies, but then he or she may not be able to take full advantage of the site.

General Information:

Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services routinely gathers quantitative information on website activity, including the number of users to the site, and the pages visited. No personally identifiable information is collected in this routine activity, and Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services reserves the right to share such information with others.

Opt-Out/Changes:

At certain locations on our site where we request information about the user, our site provides users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us. Users may also review and request changes to their personally identifiable information that Northern Insurance Services, Inc. dba Northern Health Insurance Services has collected, including removing their information from our database in order to prevent receipt of future communications or to halt receipt of our website services, using any of the following options:

• You can submit your request online at http://www.norinsco.com
• You can mail your request to the following postal address:
  Operations Manager
  Northern Insurance Services, Inc.
  dba Northern Health Insurance Services
  771 E. Daily Dr., Suite 130
  Camarillo, CA 93010
  
• You can submit your request by calling the following telephone number: 1-800-227-6474

Contacting the Website Administrator

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact our Operations Manager.