When you imagine of identity theft, you in all likelihood think of someone impersonating you to steal your money. But there’s another type of identity theft that can be just as destructive - medical identity theft. This type isn’t as better-known but it’s every bit as injurious as a financial theft.
This offense is committed by someone using your personal information and insurance policy to get medical services for themselves. Perhaps they have a serious and ongoing medical condition like diabetes that has to be continuously treated. Using your information and pretending to be you, they can get the attention they need for virtually free.
The price to you is that now you’ll have phoney data in your medical records. This data is stored in a central location called the Medical Information Bureau or MIB. Now any time you’re treated by a doctor, they will have false information to go on that could lead to a wrong diagnosis or treatment for you.
You could be on the hook financially for whatever your deductible or out of pocket expenses are on your insurance policy. You could also become uninsurable for life insurance or an individual health insurance policy because of ‘pre-existing conditions’ that don’t belong to you.
Every year, you can get a free MIB report - kind of like you can get a free credit report.It’s a good idea to check out what’s on it so that you’ll always receive the correct medical care. An identity theft protection plan like LifeLock or TrustedID offer help with this type of theft. You can get these plans for a discount by using a promotion code for LifeLock or a promotion code for Trusted ID.
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