You've probably seen commercials or heard advertisements talking about credit reports and how they can help you prevent financial loss through identity theft.
But what you may not have heard about is medical identity theft, another growing problem that can result in financial struggles and the worries of restoring your good name.
White collar crimes are a group of criminal activities that often require access to personal information in order to break the law.
They are called such because it is typically a higher-ranking businessperson or government official that has access to the personal information.
There are many types of white collar crime, such as embezzlement, insider trading, and fraud.
Medical identity theft is a subtype of identity theft, which is part of fraudulently pretending that you are someone else.
With medical identity theft, a criminal uses your personal information in order to receive drugs, medical treatment, or other health services under your name.
This can happen if someone steals your Social Security number, health insurance information, names, or other such sensitive data and uses it for their own gain.
Medical identity theft is especially frightening since a lot of procedures are very expensive, with many costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Typically, if a patient comes in to a hospital in need of emergency medical treatment, the hospital staff will perform the treatment and expect to be paid later.
You can get stuck with a large bill to cover the treatment.
Besides financial worries, medical identity theft can also mess up your health records and endanger your own safety.
For instance, if a person uses your identity in order to receive treatment for a condition like diabetes, this may be reflected on your own record.
Later, if you have to go to the hospital, the staff may mistakenly assume that you have diabetes due to your records and treat you as such.
Another problem occurs when people steal your health insurance information so that they can act as parasites on your plan.
You may be paying the insurance premiums, but they may be reaping the benefits.
This is especially harmful if you or someone actually covered by your plan gets hurt and needs help, only to find that you are past your premium and will have to pay much more.
To prevent medical identity theft, you should always keep your personal information in a safe spot, like a purse that you always keep by your side or a locked drawer or cabinet at your home.
If you suspect that anyone has gone through your personal information, it is best to double-check with your health insurance company to make sure that no one has undergone any treatment under your name.
Lastly, if you lose any information, such as your health insurance card, it can be a good idea to have your insurance company change your policy number so that you can prevent medical identity theft.
While you should always be aware of your personal information in order to prevent medical identity theft, you should also not be afraid of taking out a health insurance plan that can help you stay healthy.
To find the right health insurance plan for you, check out the Catherine Michaels Insurance Services today.