Identity Theft Protection

Posts Tagged ‘medical identity theft’

According to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2006 Identity Theft Survey Report (which is the latest figures available), of the 8.3 million Americans who suffered an identity theft, almost a quarter of a millon said they had been a victim of medical identity theft.

Now its bad enough finding out some scumbag has used your good name and medical insurance to con a busy hospital and its staff into giving them treatment that you will be billed for but it gets worse than that, much worse.

What if the thief was asked if he has any allergies and he says no but you have? Perhaps he needed a stronger anesthetic to put him under than is usual. Any of these things are simply written in your medical records so that the next doctor or anesthetist that has to deal with you is given an heads up.

As you can see, the potential risks of medical identity theft are huge and one of the dangers of companies like Lifelock and TrustedID is that they promote a feeling of false security to their customers so that their guard goes down and they aquire an attitude of “medical identity theft? I’m with Lifelock, my identity is safe, they guarantee it.”

When in actual fact all they “guarantee” is that IF your identity is compromised due to a fault with thier service, they will make good any losses. As all they do is put a fraud alert by your name, as long as that alert is present, they are pretty much covered and exempt of any blame.

Its noticable (once you know to look) that medical identity theft never gets a mention in the advertising literature of these identity theft protection services. Thats because placing a fraud alert by your name with a credit agency does nothing to protect you against medical identity theft just as it does nothing to stop a criminal applying and taking a job in your name so that they can rob their new employer, again in your name. Or the guy with a criminal record who steals your identity so that should he be stopped by the police he can hide his real identity. The list goes on but you get the picture….

You should carefully check your medical insurance documents when they send you your “explanation of benefits.” Absolutely anything you are unsure of, check with the hospital, medical center or medical insurance company for clarification.

If you do find a procedure listed that you know you never had or you receive a bill from a hospital for something you never had, you are most likely a victim of medical identity theft.

Contact the hospital immediately and let your medical insurance company know as they may have been billed direct.