In addition to protecting yourself against identity theft of your personal and financial information, you also need to guard against Medical Identity Theft.

WHAT IT IS
Medical ID Theft is when someone uses your insurance information and health records to obtain medication, medical care, or even surgery.  Thieves also find that medical ID theft can be much more lucrative than stealing someone's credit card account number.  Often the medical records include birthdate, social security number, complete address and bank account or other financial information.  Sophisticated criminal rings have been known to access patient records and submit thousands of dollars worth of claims to medicare.  According to the World Privacy Forum, Medical ID theft happens to 250,000 each year.  Most people are not aware of it until they receive a collection notice for some medical procedure they never had.

PROBLEMS
Medical ID theft, along with errors on medical records caused by human error, can be extremely dangerous to the patient.  If the records contain misinformation, it can lead to an inaccurate diagnosis, an allergic reaction to medication or a serious drug interaction. 

Additonally, there can be financial and credit ramifications from someone else using your medical info for their own purposes.  Some people have received huge collection bills for medical care provided to someone else under their name.  This happens frequently to people with common names such as Joe Smith or Sue Brown.  Once the collection agencies get involved, chances are it goes on the credit report and the credit scores drop, sometimes significantly. 

WHAT TO DO
Fortunately, there are great resources for consumers to learn about this serious issue and take preventative measures for themselves.  These steps include a regular review your medical records; keeping a copy of your own Personal Health Record; and checking your credit reports every four months to look for any unknown accounts, including medical collections.

The World Privacy Forum has a great checklist for prevention as well as steps to take if it happens to you.  The Identity Theft Resource Center has terrific info on how to correct your medical records if you find errors on them.  And the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse offers tips on what to look for in medical record storage as well as links to create your own medical records.

As with most personal and financial issues today, you need to be actively monitoring, protecting and learning about risks to your own information because nobody will watch out for it as carefully as you. 

If you have challenges getting your credit report corrected, we are here and have the experience to get the job done.  Contact us today for more information on credit consulting services.