***Medical Id Theft...Are You Paying For Surgeries You Didn't Have?

There are two facets to medical identity theft; one is financial and the other involves your health care. Medical identity theft happens when a thief uses your social security number or health insurance to obtain medical services and health care benefits –including prescriptions, without your knowledge. Medical identity theft can carry with it damaging, far-reaching effects. Not only is medical id theft hard to detect, it is even more difficult to correct than the more commonly recognized –financial identity theft. nnVictims of medical identity theft have found their medical histories contaminated with false diagnosis, billings for surgeries they never had, prescriptions they never received and bogus allergies and blood type notations –all services and notations that belong to someone else -the thief! nnAs with other forms of ID theft, when the thief doesn’t pay their share of the medical deductibles or uninsurable portions of the medical bills, victims also find their credit reports reflect debts they don’t owe! Are you one of them? nnWith nearly 1 in 6 Americans now without medical insurance, some people are finding the temptation to commit medical ID theft too great to resist. If the person using your identity is visiting an emergency room, then it is highly likely that they will get away with the crime.nnThere are no government statistics on how many cases of medical ID theft are occurring each year. But insurance companies and hospitals all agree that this form of fraud is growing rapidly. The World Privacy Forum estimates that at least 250,000 Americans have been victimized so far.nnThieves may also have an easier time getting their hands on your medical data than you think. Because insurance companies share information on patients, and their treatment, there is a real possibility that cleaning up your medical history with your insurance company will not end your problems if you ever attempt to change carriers. And depending upon the treatment sought by the thief using your good name, you could find that you may be uninsurable. That’s because insurance underwriters won’t insure people who have a history of using certain drugs and/or have certain pre-existing conditions. nnSo, what can you do to prevent this kind of identity theft? Actually… quite a bit.nn

When you receive a notice from your insurance company, open it immediately. If you receive any notices for treatment that you don’t recognize –dispute with your insurance company. After reading these notices, make sure you shred them before throwing them in the trash. nn

Check your credit report regularly. If you find medical bills on your credit reports that you don’t recognize, dispute them with the credit reporting agencies and notify your insurance company. nn

If you receive mail from hospitals where you have or haven’t been a patient, don’t assume that this mail is junk mail and throw it away. It could be a notice of a data breach or data theft. If you get this type of notice, you should notify the Credit reporting agencies and have fraud alerts placed on your credit file. n

nClosely monitor any "Explanation of Benefits" sent by your insurance company.nnA number of victims discovered they had a problem by carefully reviewing insurance statements. If anything appears wrong, raise questions with the insurer or the provider involved. You may be;nn

Being charged for services that you did not receive. n

Being charged for office visits you did not make. n

Being charged for medical equipment you did not receive. n

nIf you believe that you may be a victim of medical identity theft, it may be especially useful to file a police report and obtain a copy of that report. Send copies of the police report to insurers, providers, and credit bureaus. nnKeep an eye on your credit reportnnA number of victims of medical identity theft discovered they were victims by checking their credit report. One frequently seen tip off to a possible medical identity theft is a reported medical collection account. Sometimes thieves will change your billing address and phone number, which means you, may not be seeing all of your bills.nnIf the imposter used your name, Social Security Number and insurance information, it can be difficult to prove that the debt does not belong to you. In a number of cases, victims have been able to prove their innocence by comparing the false entries in the medical file with their regular medical files. For example, the victim who was treated may be older or younger than you, and may have different diseases, and so on. nnREMEMBER: Medical Identity theft is not something you can ignore. Removal of erroneous information is important to your health! If your medical history contains inaccuracies such as surgeries you never had, inaccurate blood types, or a diagnosis that belongs to someone else, it can quickly turn into a life threatening matter. That wrong information in your file may haunt you in the future, affect your future health care and make it difficult to obtain health or life insurance.nnResourcesnn

If you suspect you have been the victim of Medicare/Medicaid fraud, call 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477) or contact the Department of Health and Human Services http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/ or 1-800-368-1019nn

You can also file a medical identity theft complaint at the FTC (Federal Trade Commission, and take advantage of their excellent resources at http://www.ftc.gov/idtheft. The FTC Identity Theft Toll-Free Hotline is 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338).