Preventing medical ID theft has become a hot topic as Americans increasingly hear about the safety of their private medical records as more medical breeches continue to be discovered. Medical ID theft happens when a person uses someone 's identity to obtain medical services or steal money by falsifying claims for medical services. Identity thieves use a person 's Social Security number, insurance information, or other forms of identification to commit the medical ID theft.
Medical ID theft can have a devastating effect on victims, causing collections issues, credit problems, and even bankruptcy. But that 's not all. The type of medical treatment obtained by the identity thief can also prevent the victim from getting medical insurance or medical services themselves because, as far as the insurance
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Preventing Medical ID Theft: The Unemployed and Uninsured
Due to their difficult circumstances, some groups are at a higher risk for becoming identity thieves. The unemployed and uninsured may use another person 's identity because of a belief that it 's the only way they can receive quality medical care. Since they 're unemployed, they don 't have access to an employer 's healthcare benefits, and they can 't afford to buy medical insurance because they don 't have a job. It 's a vicious cycle, and it can make good people do bad things.
Preventing Medical ID Theft: Illegal Immigration
Illegal immigration also poses a serious threat as medical ID theft continues to rise. When an illegal immigrant steals private information such as an individual 's Social Security number, he or she can obtain identification and numerous services reserved for legal residents. If precautions aren 't taken to prevent medical ID theft, an illegal immigrant can get a passport, driver 's license, bank account, credit card, loan, mortgage, insurance, medical treatment, and many other services.
Preventing Medical ID Theft in Five Steps
Begin preventing medical ID theft by following these
There are some many ways if Identity theft. There is when someone uses a person name, social security number. Medical Identity theft can come from a Friend, family, and acquaintances. Even by strangers, who can steal someone 's Identity who can obtain medical care, service, or equipment. They don 't have medical care.
57 hard drives were stolen that contained protected health information, names, social security numbers, diagnosis codes, dates of birth, and health plan identification numbers of over 1 million individuals. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee has offered a variety of free credit protection and identity theft protection measures to all who may have been affected. They have agreed to pay a settlement of $1.5 million and conduct a corrective plan of action Tennessee Code Annotation § 56-32-125 confidentiality of information, chapter 32 Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1986 was violated in this breach. This code states that “information/data that is pertaining to a diagnosis, treatment or health of any enrollee or applicant obtained from the person or from any provider by any
Essentially, anyone can accumulate knowledge regarding “...everything from where your [dead] great-grandfather was born to what diseases you might be at risk for because of your DNA” (Naylor 12). Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, shares an aspect of identity theft similar to the fraud the article discusses. As Huckleberry and Jim drift down the Mississippi River, the days are full of peace and harmony. One day, Huckleberry walks ashore to gather some berries when two men suddenly come into view. At the moment, a mob seems to be pursuing the pair of men.
How HIPAA and Health Information Technology Impacts Health Finance This country is a place of innovation and growth. Every week, there seems to be a new invention created to improve our way of life. This innovation has not escaped the health care industry.
HIPAA is legislation that is mostly used in United States for the protection and privacy of the patient’s information. The medical information is protected by HIPAA whereby it ensures safe access to health and other personal information. HIPAA is therefore divided into five rules and regulations. There is private rule which ensures that all the information about individual’s health is highly protected. Private rule allows a good flow of health care information to ensure that an individual gets the best quality health care.
This is called protected health information or PHI. Information meets the definition of PHI if, even without the patient’s name, if you look at certain information and you can tell who the person is then it is PHI. The PHI can relate to past, present or future physical or mental health of the individual. PHI describes a disease, diagnosis, procedure, prognosis, or condition of the individual and can exist in any medium files, voice mail, email, fax, or verbal communications. defines information as protected health information if it contains the following information about the patient, the patient’s household members, or the patient’s employers, Names, Dates relating to a patient, i.e. birth dates, dates of medical treatment, admission and discharge dates, and dates of death, Telephone numbers, addresses (including city, county, or zip code) fax numbers and other contact information, Social Security numbers, Medical records numbers, Photographs, Finger and voice prints, Any other unique identifying
Many aspects of people’s lives are impacted when they are uninsured including their health, employment status and personal lives. The article stated it the best when it said, “Because the uninsured are sicker
In the essay on realclearpolitics.com titled Our Brave New World of Immigration, The author Victor Davis Hanson addresses the issue of illegal immigration. Hanson argues that immigration is without a set pattern and that today compared to migration in the 19th century is different because people can enter the country illegally. Illegal immigration is transgression of Federal Immigration law and costly to the American government also it is leading to an exponential growth in an already densely populated United States. Hanson points out that there is no forethought of whether people enter legally nor if they learn to speak English. The author also mentions that there is an endless number of illegal immigrants that have not assimilated.
Immigrants do not only help the economy by increasing the employment rate, they also increase taxpayers that benefits the US economy positively. There are a lot of misconceptions about undocumented immigrants and paying taxes. Many believe that since they are unauthorized immigrants they do not pay taxes. But in reality, many undocumented immigrants do pay taxes just like everyone else. They may not have a legal document that allows them to be in this country, but they find ways to pay for their taxes such as a Fake Social Security Numbers (SSN) or Individual Tax Identification numbers (ITIN)
The United States is the only Western nation that does not authorize free health services to its people. The cost of healthcare to the uninsured is beyond prohibitive, and insurance plans are far more captivated with profit costs, rather
An illegal Immigrant is a foreigner who has entered in a country unlawfully without the country 's authorization and undocumented Immigrants are a growing problem in America. Many Americans believe that both illegal and legal immigrants come to American to steal jobs away from the modern American citizen and to use social service to get welfare, food stamps, and unemployment benefits, but those beliefs are all false. In fact, Illegal immigrants have it far worse than legal immigrants because most of them live in fear of being discovered by the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) so they have to live a life of invisibility. They face several risks in the workplace. For instance, if they get injuries they can’t go to the hospital
Every documented person in America is given a nine-digit number that is connected to multiple personal records. This includes, but is not limited to, bank accounts, credit cards, employment records, etc. Your Social Security number may be a material thing, but it protects your physical identity and should be kept
Expanding accessibility to affordable healthcare insurance is one way in which our country can begin to increase healthcare that is patient and family centered. One reason for existing disparities are the expenses associated with seeking healthcare. For some people, while the actual monthly payments of their health insurance is affordable, patients still face high deductibles or high out of pocket maximums. By making health insurance attainable for the majority of Americans, this alone is only the first step toward reducing some of the existing health disparities. Money alone is a factor that can deter people from seeking preventive treatment and screenings.
46.8 million Americans were reported as uninsured in 2013, which equivocates to one sixth of the population. Those without insurance have revealed that they risk “more problems getting care, are diagnosed at later disease stages, and get less therapeutic care” (National Health Care Disparities Report) and those insured risk losing their insurance. Inadequately covered citizens are often working-class individuals who simply cannot receive insurance due to uncontrollable inconveniences and therefore jeopardize having medical coverage. In these instances, Americans have a chance of being diagnosed with diseases that they had no opportunity to prevent or could not diagnose them at an early stage of the illness. Patients have suffered unnecessarily due to lack of health care, and “18,000 Americans die every year because they don't have health insurance” (PNHP).
This form of identity theft is extremely dangerous as it could lead to entries that are not correct in the medical history of the victim. These erroneous entries can result in an inaccurate diagnosis of the victim. Synthetic Identity Theft: This is a recent form of identity theft where cyber criminals use the information they have collected from several different victims to establish a new identity. The new identity can then be used to defraud the government.