How To Prevent Medical Identity Theft

Medical identity theft is a growing concern, impacting over 250,000 people annually.  In addition to proactively protecting your financial identity, you need to prevent this new threat by protecting your medical identity and benefits.

What is medical identity theft?

Medical identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information without your knowledge or consent to obtain, or receive payment for, medical treatment, services, or goods. When this happens to you, the thief’s treatments could show up on your record, be taken out of your benefits, and even disqualify you from new health insurance. It can also cause a discrepancy in your records which can impact your ability to obtain life insurance.  And most dangerous of all, if the thief’s medical history is confused with yours, your own medical care could be jeopardized.

Key Statistics about Medical Identity Theft

• 3 percent of all identity theft victims in 2005 were victims of medical identity theft, which means of 8.3 million ID theft victims, approximately 250,000 people were victimized by medical identity theft in that year alone
• Identity Theft Resource Center (2004) follow up to “Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2003″ survey found that 23% of survey respondents found that “Using my information, someone obtained medical services.”
• Health care fraud accounts for an estimated 3 to 10 percent of all health care costs, or 80 to 120 billion dollars of loss per year
• Organized patterns of this crime tend to involve what is called “clinic takeover.” this is where a group purchases a small clinic, operates the scam out it for a few months to a year, then shuts the operation down and disappears. During the time of operation, these scams lure patients into their offices with promises of free checkups. When patients come in with the medical information, that information can be copied

5 steps to prevent medical identity theft:

1. Keep your health information private. Don’t share your policy information with anyone without knowing how that person plans to use it, who else will have access to it, and how the information will be protected. TrustedID scans black market areas of the Internet to check whether your policy information is being shared or sold online.
2. Avoid offers for free medical services, especially if they are asking for your medical information. TrustedID’s Resource Center offers the most updated information regarding the latest identity theft scams and data breaches you should be aware of.
3. Check your medical benefits statement for inaccuracies. Identity theft protection services like TrustedID make sure only you and your family are using your medical benefits by helping you review your annual medical benefits statement.
4. Monitor your credit reports for medical debts or collections. Unusual activity here will indicate that someone is obtaining medical care using your identity.
5. Sign up for an Identity Protection service. There are several options available, all at a reasonable cost. TrustedID offers a package that protects your entire family under one low-priced plan including your credit report, medical benefits, Social Security number, bank and credit card accounts and more.

Related posts:

1. How To Protect Children From Identity Theft
2. Reclaiming Your Identity After Identity Theft
3. Identity Theft Costs Victims $1,882 on Average – FTC Report
4. Does It Matter When You Report An Identity Theft?
5. How Identity Theft Affects Your Credit Score

Tagged as: Credit, credit report, Identity Theft, Trusted ID

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