Pa. sends ID info of 1,200 to wrong addresses

The AP reports:

State officials are hoping to contain any worries about identity theft after more than 1,200 mailings containing the Social Security numbers of state welfare recipients were sent to the wrong addresses.

The mix-up happened at a state printing plant, where a paper jam on a mail inserter threw off the operation and caused some recipients' paperwork to be stuffed into envelopes labeled with the addresses of other welfare recipients.

More than 2,800 packets were mailed Aug. 18 to the wrong addresses, including 1,284 that contained Social Security numbers. Recipients began calling county welfare offices several days later to report the mistake, a Department of Public Welfare official said.

Just a warm up for socialized medicine.