The Truth About Medical Identity Theft

Most people know about identity theft that happens when financial information is stolen. Unfortunately, not many people are aware of medical identity theft. This occurs when your medical history is stolen or someone uses your name or insurance information during a medical visit. Someone can easily rack up thousands of dollars in medical services in your name and you may not find out for years. This article will tell you everything you need to know about this emerging problem.

How

You may be asking yourself how could someone do this. Medical identity theft is usually the result of criminals paying employees to steal lots of medical records. They turn around and sell them off to people will usually don't have insurance. This enables them to use your medical chart and insurance information to get expensive medical procedures. Medical identity theft can also occur if a corrupt physician falsifies your records to show a medical procedure you didn't receive so that your insurance will pay the cost.

Dangers

In addition to the financial repercussions of medical identity theft, there are also life-threatening consequences. If someone else's information has been added to your medical chart, your physician may make an inaccurate diagnosis. He may even give you the wrong treatment or drugs you may be allergic to. If you need a blood transfusion and have someone else's type on your chart, you could receive the wrong blood type. Now you may be asking what are things you can do to avoid medical identity theft.

Tips

There are a few things you can do to prevent medical identity theft. Since criminals often change your insurance contact information, you should call every couple of months to make sure it is still current. Once a year, you should also request a list of any claims made to your insurance company. Your medical charts should also be checked for any misinformation. Because medical charts aren't kept in a centralized database, they prove to be the hardest to track down and correct.

Medical identity theft is usually harder to catch than financial identity theft. Someone using your medical information could pose a health risk to you. You could easily be misdiagnosed for something and given the wrong kind of medication. You should keep in contact with your insurance company to ensure everything is updated. You should also periodically review your medical chart to check for inaccurate information or any other signs of medical identity theft.