Red Flag 9

 

It is estimated that the toll of medical identity may exceed 3 million victims.  This may be one of the fastest growing areas of identity theft and one of the least reported, because it is so very difficult to determine if you are a victim.

 

Medical identity theft occurs when an imposter uses your identity to get medical treatment.  They get free treatment in your name and you or your insurance company gets the bill.  A school teacher recently had to show bill collectors that her foot was not amputated.  They will trying collect fees for the amputation of her foot. 

 

Whoa! Medical identity theft is more than financial.  It can be a hazard to your health.  The same school teacher had a heart attack.  She woke up two days later in a hospital and the nurse asked her what medication she was taking for her diabetes (the imposter who had their foot amputated was a diabetic).  Had it been necessary for her to undergo surgery for her heart ailment while she was unconscious, she would have been treated as a diabetic, and possibly the risk of death would have been higher.

 

What can you do?  Scrutinize any medical and health insurance bills you receive.  Make sure the services you are being charged for were services that you received.   Check your medical information bureau report annually; you are entitled to one report each year (A link can be found on the Related Links Page.  If you are being seen by a doctor or you are hospitalized, be alert to red flags such as a nurse asking you what medication you take for a disease or condition that you don’t have.

 

Under law you have the right to file a written statement which will be included in your medical records to address mistakes and errors.  Because of the complexity of trying to correct medical records, we recommend that you also contact an attorney to assist you in using the most appropriate legal approach to correcting your medical records.