A Patient's Stolen Medical Identity Cardoza Law CorporationYou’re probably very aware of identity theft and how it can impact your personal and financial life, but you may not have even known there was such a thing as medical identity theft. We take a look at what it is and how it could affect you for many years to come.

What Is Medical Identity Theft?

Medical identity theft is a serious and growing crime. Like credit identity theft, it is difficult to prevent, and it is nearly impossible to catch the people who are committing it. This crime involves using a person’s name, insurance information, Social Security Number, or another identifying fact to obtain medical services and goods or to make false claims for medical services or goods. In most cases, the victim has no idea the theft has occurred.

What Are the Consequences of Medical Identity Theft?

So, someone uses your name to get treatment in an ER or to get medication—how could that affect you? Ah, let me count the ways! Some of the more serious outcomes of this kind of theft include:

  1. Improper billing and activity by imposters could change your medical records to include falsified information. These changes could then affect the healthcare you receive in the future if the errors are not caught and corrected.
  2. You could be billed a significant amount for medical goods and services you neither sought nor received.
  3. Ongoing issues with insurance, co-pays, insurance caps, and more can result from falsified charges.
  4. When misinformation appears in your medical file, you could be falsely accused of being a drug user, have your children taken away, lose your job, and more based on the medical activities of the imposter.
  5. When a medical identity thief runs up debt in your name, you could experience long-term problems with aggressive medical debt collection or be denied a mortgage or other loan.

In other words, the effects of medical identity theft can be disastrous.

Has Your Credit Been Hurt By Identity Theft?

If your credit has been damaged due to identity theft you need to speak with an experienced credit identity theft attorney as soon as possible. Contact me online today and let's take the needed steps to help get your credit back on track.

 

Michael F. Cardoza, Esq.
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U.S. Marine & Consumer Financial Protection Attorney helping victims of ID theft and Credit Reporting errors.
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