Posted on 09/28/2006 9:33:30 AM PDT by APRPEH
NewsTarget) Although most identity theft cases in the United States involve credit cards and bank accounts, ID thieves are now engaging in medical fraud -- falsely obtaining medical care using someone's stolen identity -- according to today's Los Angeles Times.
After surgery on her shoulder last year, Lind Weaver, a 56-year-old retired schoolteacher, was billed for the amputation of her right foot. Refusing to pay the medical bill collectors, Weaver set about trying to prove that the surgery had obviously not been performed on her -- since her foot was intact -- which proved a more difficult task than recovering from simple credit card ID theft.
Experts say the rising costs of U.S. healthcare are driving medical identity fraud, and many victims are entirely unaware that their medical identity has been stolen unless they receive a hospital bill or an inquiry from their insurance provider. In addition to potentially damaging credit reports and affecting future job status -- since many Fortune 500 companies require access to medical records when hiring or promoting -- medical identity theft can also cause fatal future hospital errors.
For example, Weaver suffered a heart attack in May, and when she awoke in the hospital two days later, a nurse asked her what drugs she was taking to treat her diabetes. Weaver did not suffer from diabetes -- though the woman who stole her identity did -- and diabetes patients receive different heart surgeries than patients without the disease.
However, even if health complications are avoided, medical identity fraud can lead to hellish legal ordeals. In the case of Salt Lake City resident Anndorie Sachs -- whose ID was stolen and used when the thief delivered a baby that tested positive for methamphetamine -- her four children were nearly taken from her by social workers, though she had not given birth for two years. Sachs' case was only resolved after she hired a lawyer and went to the local media. However, when Sachs was admitted to the hospital for a kidney infection last year, the hospital records indicated the wrong blood type, which could have resulted in a fatal error.
Victims of medical identity theft find that clearing their names can be even more difficult than those clearing a traditional credit card ID theft, largely because of laws designed to protect patients' medical records. Once a patient reveals to the hospital or doctor's office that their medical records are somehow tied to someone else's -- even though that person is an identity thief -- their records become much more difficult to access.
The U.S. House and Senate are currently working to pass bills that push wider use of electronic health records, which could potentially make it easier for medical identity theft victims to clear their names.
Our insurance, and then me, was billed for me having a baby. It was easy to refute since the baby was black and I am caucasian. The mother's name was very close to mine. I don't think she committed identity fraud I think the hospital just looked in their records for someone with a name close enough to bill it to.
This is a variation on a long-running fraud issue here in Canada- many Americans near the border are obtaining health cards (stolen, forged or applied for under false pretenses) to take advantage of our "free" system.
Like it or not, identity theft, illegal immigration, terrorism and many other issues will eventually lead to a national ID of some sort or another.
I had to make a trip to the ER a couple of years ago on friday night. I could have easly gave them a fake insureance card as they couldn't check on it on the weekend.
I've accepted that for a long time. I wish other sensible people would, so we could get to work on the details of just how a system would need to be set up in order to avoid abuses. I think the only answer is a biometric ID system -- it certainly avoids the "carrying papers" issue, but it would need to be set up with plenty of checks and balances.
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