When a wallet is lost or stolen, the first thing most Americans do is call their credit-card company. But if health-care ID or pharmacy cards are among the missing items, you should also alert your insurer.
... [Mike Stergio, director of Aetna Inc.'s special investigation unit] is currently investigating a case in which Aetna was hit with claims totaling $3.5 million over a two-week period for treatments supposedly provided to 400 of its members. The sheer volume of claims and suspicious patterns of procedures -- four colonoscopies in one family -- prompted the insurer to investigate and freeze payments.One of the biggest threats posed by medical identity theft is that victims can receive the wrong medical treatment based on the fraudulent information in their medical records. (You are allergic to penicillin, the imposter isn't.) In addition, theft can cause victims to fail pre-employment medical exams or become uninsurable. (What about that cancer diagnosis?) And their credit can become badly damaged. At a broader level, health-care fraud leads to higher health insurance premiums, higher taxes and higher co-payments.
Source - Wall Street Journal
