An online article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by Mike Wereschagin dives into medical identity theft with an example of a woman from western Pennsylvania, Jo-Ann Davis, who had her medical identity stolen. Davis lost her wallet and subsequently cancelled all of her credit cards along with obtaining a new drivers license. However Davis didn’t think about her Highmark insurance card.
It turns out Carol Anne Hutchins, 30, of Bulger, Washington County, used Davis' insurance to obtain pain medication and medical treatment almost 40 times” and “received about $16,000 worth of medical treatment at facilities from Altoona to East Liverpool, Ohio.” Hutchins served just under three months in jail and received four years’ probation.
According to the nonprofit World Privacy Forum “medical identity theft might affect as many as 250,000 people nationwide and can lead to potentially life-threatening mix-ups.” Once identity theft happens “the victims medical file is altered to reflect it” and “can cause victims to fail background checks for insurance or employment, find themselves suddenly over their insurance coverage limit, get calls from collection agencies, have prescriptions altered because doctors think they have medical problems they don't really have, or even have the wrong blood type listed for them.”
Preventing this type of identity theft is difficult from an insurers perspective but as a consumer you can take some precautionary measures:
- Check benefits statements. Insurance companies mail these documents to people they insure, listing medical procedures charged to a person's policy. Make sure the statement reflects care that doctors say you received.
- Check your medical file. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 gives patients the right to see their medical files. Patients also are entitled to a copy, though doctors can charge as much as $1 a page.
- If your wallet is stolen, call your insurance company as well as your credit card companies.
Comment Preview