(Bloomberg) — Insurance regulators in states includingWashington and Alaska are launching an investigation into thecyberattack on health insurer Premera Blue Cross.

State watchdogs will look into "what happened, how it happened,and what the end result or consumer impact is," Lori Wing-Heier,director of Alaska's Division of Insurance, said Friday.

The regulators will examine whether there's a connection betweenthe attack on Premera and a cyberattack on Anthem Inc. Thatcompany, the second-largest U.S. health insurer, said last monththat hackers accessed information on 78.8 million people.

Melanie Coon, a spokeswoman for Premera, said the insurer hasn'tbeen formally notified of an investigation and declined to commentfurther.

Premera said this week that data such as names, bank accountsand medical information on 11 million people may have been exposed.The Mountlake Terrace, Washington-based insurer discovered thebreach on Jan. 29 and is sending letters to customers who wereaffected. The company said the breach began on May 5, almost ninemonths before it was discovered.

Regulators will look into the amount of time it took Premera toidentify the attack and notify customers, Wing-Heier said by phonefrom Juneau.

The attack on Premera was the latest in a series of high-profilebreaches at health-care firms. Hospital chain Community HealthSystems Inc. had information on 4.5 million patients taken lastyear.

Premera has more than 1.8 million customers, and the attackaffected records dating back to 2002. Information was alsocompromised from Premera's Vivacity and Connexion InsuranceSolutions brands.

Regulators in states including Indiana, California and Maine areinvestigating Indianapolis-based Anthem's breach, according to astatement from the National Association of InsuranceCommissioners.