Today Judith Graham’s blog “Triage” at the Chicago Tribune has two postings with tips on how to protect against and respond to medical identity theft. Sources include the Identity Theft Resource Center and the World Privacy Forum. Medical identity theft is an expanding frontier in the crime of identity fraud, and with the decentralization of medical information it can be difficult to discover and resolve.
Medical identity theft can be two different types of crime - strictly financial - where a thief tries to use your insurance to make false claims for procedures that you or anyone else never received. The trickier, and more potentially dangerous scenario involves someone using your identity to obtain medical treatment. Not only do you or your insurance company bear the financial burden for the care, but the tests and treatments done on this “phony you” become a part of your medical history, affecting your future care and ability to get insurance. Depending on the care provider, it can be a chore to get this incorrect information removed from your medical records.
Take a look at the tips and know your rights and action items to help you or someone you know facing this problem.
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