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Medical ID Theft Carries Far Reaching Consequences
In his article "Your Health Insurance is Next ID-Theft Target" Joseph Menn writing for the Los Angeles Times describes a startling incident of ID theft experienced by Lind Weaver, a 56-year-old retired teacher, who had surgery on her shoulder in 2005 but also received a bill for the amputation of her right foot.
In response Weaver sent the hospital notarized photos of her toes with a letter that read in part, "Either you didn't do the surgery, or you did a really (shoddy) job of it. Either way, I'm not paying for it."
Lind was the victim of identity theft. The information on her medical insurance card had been obtained illegally and a bill submitted in her name to an insurance company. More than a year after the initial incident, Lind is still coping with fraudulent medical charges.
While the majority of identity theft cases reported annually in the U.S. are a result of credit card fraud, a federal report in 2003 cited more than 200,000 instance of medical identity fraud, an issue that will only become more serious as health care costs continue to escalate in the United States.
The effect on the victims carries consequences beyond the financial as they may lose their insurance or be treated according to medical information on file in their name that is not actually a reflection of their true medical condition.
The fact that medical records may be scattered across a variety of hospitals, offices, and clinics often greatly complicates the process of locating and correcting erroneous information.
The full text of Menn's article can be found at cantonrep.com.
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