While the concept of identity theft is pretty well
understood by most of the public, an offshoot of this problem, specifically
medical identity theft is much less well understood. Less than 15% of adults are familiar with the
term medical identity theft and of that group, only 1/3 of them could correctly
define medical identity. Still worse,
even those that understand the risks are for the most part unable to buy any
kind of insurance protection for this risk exposure.
If medical identity theft is not well understood, it is also
grossly underappreciated by the public.
Take a look at a few rather daunting facts and figures relating to
medical identity theft. This crime
victimizes some 1.5 million Americans every year. And the costs of these attacks are now more
than $30 billion. And if this crime
strikes you, then understand that the average cost of resolving a medical
identity theft issue is $20,000 and the time it takes to do so averages between
4 and 6 months. And while we are all
very protective of our social security numbers, and rightly so, consider for a
moment that the street value of a stolen social security number is about $1
while the street value of a stolen medical identity is $50.
There are many different scams designed to steal medical
identities but we tend to group medical identity thefts into three broad
categories.
Financial medical identity theft – Someone is getting
medical help using another person’s name or other information.
Criminal medical identity theft – A victim may be held
responsible for the actions of another person’s criminal behavior.
Government Benefit Fraud – Someone’s medical benefits are
being used by another person.
What strategies can you employ to make it less likely that
you become a victim of medical identity theft?
Well, most of these are pretty easy steps and what is really required
here is that you just take a little bit of time to constantly review and stay
in touch with your medical paperwork.
For instance, you should carefully monitor and review all explanation of
benefits letters that are sent to you by your health insurance company. Make sure that each and every benefit listed
is accurate and valid. You can even be
more proactive and go ahead and request a listing of benefits from your health
insurance company and check this for accuracy.
Also, you can request a copy of current medical files from each health
care provider that you use. Move quickly
to promptly correct any errors or false information that you find in any of
your medical files. Keep a close eye on
your credit reports in case they show medical debts outstanding. And you can request an accounting of
disclosures from your health insurance company.
While the insurance industry is relatively silent in the
area of insurance protection against this risk, there are a few insurance companies
that are beginning to offer some options for protection against this type of
fraud. Check with your homeowners
insurance agent to see if you can add medical identity theft insurance to your
home insurance policy. While you are at
it, you may want to check and see if you can add identity theft to your policy
as well. While the number of insurance
companies that provide medical identity theft protection right now is pretty
small more and more insurance companies are evaluating this coverage each day
and over time it may become much more of a mainstream type protection that you
will be able to add to your homeowners insurance policy.
Clinard Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC,
currently insures thousands of families all across North Carolina. We would love to help you with your homeowners
insurance, your auto
insurance, your life
insurance or even your business
insurance. Please feel free to call
us, toll free, at 877-687-7557. We will
take as much time as you need to help make sure that you are getting the
protection that you want at a price that will pleasantly surprise you.
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