HOW TO PREVENT MEDICAL IDENTITY THEFT
The health care sector is one of the most sensitive sectors of every economy. People’s medical identity can be stolen to commit all sorts of fraud. Identity theft is not only prevalent in the medical sub-prime sector but, this article is specifically written to explore medical identity theft and proffer possible solutions to counter the activities of medical identity thieves.
In case you don’t know up till this moment, know it now that your medical identity can be stolen. Yes, they steal your medical identity for the following reasons;
(1) To get free health benefits
(2) To collect some fat Medicare
(3) To Medicaid money
(4) To ruin your credit report
How would you feel if you receive a fat medical bill for an medical attention you never received. Imagine being informed that you were been diagnosed and treated of cancer and billed for it? You will be shocked am sure but, very many people never knew the cause of this and often time blame the management of the medical outfit while in actual sense, their medical identity have been stolen and used to perpetrate this inhuman act. But, now you know. In as much as the past government have a portion of the blame, we still remain chiefly responsible for the security of our identity.
WHY IS MEDICAL IDENTITY THEFT RAMPANT NOW?
The economic downturn is mainly the principal cause of the recent increase in medical identity theft. People engage in all kinds of fraud in the face of economic crisis just to make ends meet. Workers in the Medicare sectors engage in medical fraud out of the fear of the unknown, they are afraid of loosing their job tomorrow or experiencing a cut in their salaries. Again, the rate of unemployment has reached a record high, and has led those inside to perpetrate fraud in collaboration with those outside the corporations.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES
It is generally agreed that the best way to fight fraud of any kind is to come from the preventive aspect. Hence, this article will take a preventive approach. So, enjoy!
- Jealously guard your medical insurance card(s)
It is your sole responsibility to guard your medical insurance card. You never can tell who the fraudsters are. They can be you bosom friend that may have access to your apartment at will. There is no better security measure that can be taken than to protect your property.
- Tend towards skeptical(LISM)
Be skeptical about people you give your information to. Ask intelligent questions as to the authenticity and reliability of those you give out your personal information to. Be more of Auditors that will say ‘show me’ and not tell me. Ask them to show you evidence of their claim. This could an endorsed and certified membership card of medical association.
- Hospitals should require photo ID for treatment
From the part of the hospital, they should require whomever that comes for treatment to present them with an ID that has photo on it. Government issued IDs should be preferred, National ID cards for example.
- Handling disposable stuff with care
Never dispose used can of medicine without scrapping off personal information on the body of the can. Those (hospitals) that store patients’ information in a computerized database should take every measure to ensure that Hard-drives that are no longer needed should be properly cleaned before disposal. Third party softwares should be used to remove all data in damaged hard disc before disposal (it is possible to recover data from formatted hard discs if these third party softwares are not used to clean the disc)
- Leave all your valuables at home when going to the hospital for treatment
You will do your self a lot of good if you leave your personal and vital information at home (in a secure place) before going to the hospital for any medical attention. Chances are that one of the casual staff in the hospital will have dubious character.
- Get the privacy policy of patients from your doctors
Ask your doctor or pharmacist for the privacy policy of their establishment before dolling out your information to them. If you are not satisfied with what they have to offer, don’t patronize them. Also, be sure that your data is not sold to marketing agencies.
- Insist on getting your medical report
It is your right to get your medical report, so insist on getting it. If in any way you are been denied of this opportunity, do not hesitate to report same to the appropriate authorities.
- Know the technologies
Technologies, mostly web applications are used to collect people’s vital personal information. Becoming web and technology savvy can help you see danger and apply caution.
- For those in America, guard you (SSN) Social Security Number.
It is unfortunate that people’s cash vault and other sensitive information are tied to this thing called SSN. You will be glad you guard it.
- Education
Educating your self of the latest or newest method that these negatively smart guys employ to get people’s medical identity is definitely a good measure to checkmate these guys. You can get most of these much needed knowledge by buying some of these Amazon books by the right hand side of this hub.
I have no doubt in me that following the measures in this article and the ones recommended in financial identity theft will help protect you from scammers that are everywhere looking for whom to devour.
To the safety of your medical identity!
