Medical Identity Theft: What You Must Know
Medical identity theft takes place all too often, yet it is one of the least reported and investigated forms of identity theft. It is also the most unsafe form of identity theft.
Medical identity theft occurs when somebody uses another person's confidential information to acquire medical treatment for any reason. This is exceedingly dangerous since medical records can be compromised and incorrect information can have fatal outcomes in emergency situations. If you were to need an urgent transfusion and the wrong blood type is on the hospital's medical files it can be fatal. Another potentially deadly outcome is being given medicine you may have an allergy to because the individual who has stolen your identity is capable of taking that drug.
This could also keep you from receiving life saving drugs as a result of the other individual's medical records being mixed up with yours. They might have an allergy to the drugs or have a disease which keeps the hospital from providing it to you if it is needed. This list of potential consequences is long and none of them are acceptable.
Other consequences might be that you could be labeled as a drug seeker because of the drugs given to the other individual. This could affect your ability to obtain prescriptions for specific medications and you could be reported to the authorities as a drug user. It could even have an effect on your job if physicals or medical information is required for employment.
When somebody utilizes your information for insurance purposes it's considered to be insurance fraud. Not only can this have an effect on your insurance premiums, however you may be responsible for co-pays or any bills not paid for by the insurance company. Here again your medical records are compromised as a result of the other individual using your identity.
If you're unaware of the bills then your credit might be affected to the point of being ineligible for car and home loans and other credit related opportunities. You could even potentially be sued for the bills that were run up in your name by another person. If you're sued then your pay might be garnished for something you had no knowledge of. It could also make you lose job opportunities if the company checks your credit score.
Your medical records are used to determine whether or not you are eligible for specific government benefits such as disability or social security. If somebody uses your records to obtain these benefits for themselves then you could lose the ability to obtain these benefits for you and your family should the need arise. You could also be held responsible for paying the government back if it is believed that you are drawing these benefits while working and not reporting the salary from your job.
You should always do anything you can to protect yourself and your family from medical identity theft. Whether it is using the services of an identity theft insurance company that helps to safeguard your identity or simply monitoring your credit score and asking for copies of your medical records from time to time, it is well worth the trouble or possible expenditure you may incur to dodge a possible disaster.
Once somebody has stolen your identity it can take years to put things back as they ought to be. You'll most likely incur legal expenses and also you have the additional responsibility of establishing that you're the real person and not the one who took the identity.
