Protect Yourself from Medical Identity Theft

Harry Campbell

Medical ID theft can be as simple as someone copying your health insurance or Social Security number or other personal information, assuming your identity at a doctor's office, then billing services and treatment to your policy. In other cases the crooks are medical personnel. Doctors can download your info from health-care provider databases and charge you for services they never performed. Pharmacists, nurses, or receptionists might use your identity to get prescription drugs for themselves or to sell to others. Medical ID theft can also involve organized crime rings, which buy stolen information on the black market and then set up fake clinics that make bogus claims so they can pocket the money from your insurance company.