Tips to deal with Medical identity theft

If anyone tells you about medical identity theft, what would you say? You would probably laugh and think, “let the person take my ailments, after all what can he do with it”? But little do you know, the fraudster can make millions by getting false medical claims, getting surgeries done at your expense and what not by pretending you.

Criminals may be the ones who cannot afford medical care or they may be the health care providers who want to mint money either by selling records or by making false claims as happened in a case where some medical providers held a false camp of free checkup to obtain information. They may simply be your next door neighbors or someone who snatched your wallet at the busy train station. Medical identity theft leaves not only your pockets empty but can also threaten life. The person can commit crime with your identity and you will be held responsible, the data of impersonator and the actual individual gets mixed up and in the hour of need, the patient may get wrong medicine risking his life. Talks are on to convert information into electronic medical records which has already started worrying the experts. With easy online access, the patients may not even know that there medical information have been compromised. Softwares like Revolution Health are a step in this direction.

Are the people aware enough to tackle the situation if medical identity theft happens? Are our laws strong enough to put hold to such identity thefts? Lots of questions remain unanswered but by being aware we can definitely mitigate the ill effects of this crime.
What can be done when medical identity theft happens, take these steps:

• Get in touch with your insurance company and ask for details of all the benefits you have received and get their copies. Review them and keep them intact.
• Ask you health care provider to give you details of all treatments you have got done and secure their copies.
• Keep a copy of your credit card report and check for the anamolies, if any.
• If you are aware that you are a victim, file a report in your nearest police station. This will keep the hospital authorities and insurers on guard and you will have a substantial proof for saving yourself.
• You can also go ahead and put a freeze on your credit card accounts and reports so that they cannot be obtained without your prior permission.

World Privacy Forum provides in detail the consumer tips that can safeguard you from medical identity theft and lets you tackle the breach head on. Being prepared is the only way to deal with it.