Identity Theft and Medical Fraud

Hey,
Once again I am writing about Identity Theft. I believe that this is an area that everybody needs to be aware of. Experts say that it is only a matter of time before everybody had had their Identity Stolen at least once. We are all aware of the dangers of having our Identity Stolen with credit cards but there are just so many ways in which it can be stolen and so many area’s of our lives that can be effected by it that I figure to write several articles about this subject.

Today I would like to look at Identity Theft and medical fraud. This occurs when an individual obtains medical care using someone else’s stolen identity. Many times you can remain entirely unaware that it has even happened unless you happen to get a hospital bill or are contacted by an insurance company with questions about the procedure.

This can effect you in many ways ranging from serious to possibly fatal. Many of your large companies obtain medical reports before giving certain promotions due to needing to find out if you are medically able to perform the duties that would be expected of you. Having had someone else use your identity for heart surgery or some other serious problem could keep you from being able to advance in your career.

How about applying for insurance. You might be a perfectly healthy individual. You are applying for health insurance and expect to not only have your application accepted but also expect to get a preferred rate. Then depending on what procedures someone else who has used your identity has had done in your name, you might get a very high premium or even be denied coverage.

Or even worse, you are having surgery or some other procedure. It might not even be something that would ordinarily matter, but your medical records indicate that you have conditions that you don’t have, or are taking medications that you are not taking, or could even indicate that you have a different blood type than you actually have. These little things could turn something minor into something deadly real quick.

You might would think that these problems would be easily fixed, but in reality they are not. First of all many times the problem may not even be identified until it has already hurt you. Secondly, many times you will find that after a Doctor has been notified that more than one person share a singe medical record it becomes very difficult to obtain you file just to see what problems their might be.

Even after obtaining your file though, getting the false information taken off just about takes an act of God. I’ve heard of a woman once who was billed for the amputation of her foot. She liked to have never got it fixed even though she still had both her feet. Unfortunately, common sense has very little to do with what goes on these days.

One thing that everybody needs to have these days is Identity Theft Protection. It is really the only way to make sure you are protected. I recommend the plan at this site it is a great plan and it is affordable.

http://www.hartlinefinancial.com