Health insurance is intended to ensure access to essential treatments, preventive services, and emergency care for individuals and families in need. Unfortunately, it has also become a lucrative target for scammers.
In February of this year, Change Healthcare experienced a cyber-attack that affected thousands of healthcare providers, insurers, and policyholders across the nation. Reports indicate that approximately 50% of all U.S. medical claims could be compromised. To put this in perspective, if you're in a waiting room with nine other people, there's a significant chance that five of you could become victims of medical identity theft within the year. The repercussions of this fraud are immense, disrupting the lives and healthcare access of countless individuals. Once your medical information is exposed online, identity thieves can use it to file false claims, purchase expensive prescriptions, and more, all of which will be charged to your account.
The most distressing part is how some people discover they have been affected. Some face tax or mortgage fraud, while others go to the doctor to schedule a necessary procedure, only to receive a rejection letter from their insurance provider. The letter claims that their benefits have been exhausted due to multiple procedures performed throughout the year. The catch is, these individuals never underwent those procedures. Their medical IDs were stolen and used by someone else.
It's not just individuals at risk; manipulative organizations can exploit your medical information for fraudulent billing schemes. They submit false claims for medical services you never requested, received, or knew about, collect their payday, and leave you with the bill. In July, 193 defendants, including 76 doctors, nurse practitioners, and other licensed medical professionals, were charged for their alleged involvement in various healthcare fraud schemes, resulting in $2.75 billion in false billings to federal programs. Medical fraud is a serious and prevalent issue!
How to Identify If You Are a Victim
Here are 10 indicators that your medical ID may have been stolen and is being exploited by cybercriminals:
1. Unexpected Medical Bills: Receiving invoices for medical services you never received is a significant warning sign.
2. Collection Notices: Being approached by debt collectors for unpaid medical bills that don't belong to you.
3. Errors in Medical Records: Discovering inaccuracies in your medical records, such as treatments you never underwent, incorrect diagnoses, or unfamiliar medical histories.
4. Insurance Issues: Having your health insurance claims denied because your benefits have been exhausted or being told you've reached your coverage limit, despite not utilizing the services.
5. Notification from Your Insurance Provider: Getting alerts from your health insurance provider about claims or services that are unfamiliar to you.
6. Unknown Accounts: Finding new health insurance accounts or medical records in your name that you did not create.
7. Discrepancies in Your Explanation of Benefits (EOB): Your EOB statements from your insurer list medical services you did not receive.
8. Being Denied Insurance: Facing difficulties in obtaining life or health insurance due to medical conditions listed in your records that you do not have.
9. Calls from Medical Providers: Receiving calls from doctors or medical facilities about appointments or follow-ups for treatments you never had.
10. Unfamiliar Prescriptions: Getting notices about prescriptions being filled in your name that you did not authorize or receive.
How Can You Prevent Becoming A Victim
Of Medical ID Fraud?
Don't
become the next medical ID theft victim. Here are a few steps you can take to
protect yourself:
● Check For Health Care Breaches: Use a searchable database, like this one, to find out if your health care
information has been compromised.
● Secure Your Records: Store paper copies of medical
records in a safe or lockbox to prevent unauthorized access. If your health care
organization's system is compromised and records are lost, altered or unable to
be accessed, you will be glad you did this.
● Shred Documents: Shred any documents with
personal information before disposing of them.
● Monitor Your Medical Records: Regularly request and review your medical records from your health care
providers and look for unfamiliar treatments, diagnoses or other discrepancies.
● Review Insurance Bills: Carefully review explanation of benefits
(EOB) statements from your insurance provider for any services you did not
receive and question unfamiliar or unclear charges. Contact your insurer immediately if you see any charges or services
that you don't recognize. Afterward, report any billing errors to the
credit bureaus at IdentityTheft.gov.
● Dispose Of Prescription Labels: Remove labels from empty
prescription bottles before discarding them! These labels can contain
information that, believe it or not, can be used to steal your identity.
● Monitor Your Credit: At AnnualCreditReport.com, you are able to get three free
reports a year to keep an eye on any suspicious activity.
Health
care will always be around and will also always be a target for hackers.
Attacks on hospitals, doctors' offices and other medical facilities will
continue. It's important that you are taking proactive measures to protect
yourself. We can help you find out how you're at risk with our FREE cyber strategy session. Using this technology, we can quickly find out if your information has
been put up for sale on the dark web or if you've been a victim of a data
breach. To book your cyber strategy session, call us at 707-689-3999 or click here.
