BEAVERTON, Ore., April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical identity theft won't just harm your pocketbook, but could cost you your health. Unlike traditional identity theft, the consequences of medical identity go beyond the financial costs. They can impact your health due to inaccurate information being documented on medical records, potentially leading to future misdiagnosis and other complications.
Medical identity theft occurs when criminals steal health insurance identification or Social Security Numbers and use them to obtain healthcare services or reimbursement from insurers for fraudulent claims. According to the World Privacy Forum, as many as 250,000 to 500,000 consumers have been victims of medical identity theft as of mid-2006.
"Medical ID theft can be devastating for consumers," commented Doug Pollack, chief marketing officer for identity theft protection company ID Experts. "Checking for medical identity fraud must become a part of everyone's complete identity protection practices -- it's that prevalent."
ID Experts offers the following five steps to protect your healthcare information from being compromised by thieves:
About ID Experts
ID Experts provides identity theft protection services for individuals, corporations and the public sector. Unlike other identity theft protection service providers that rely solely on credit monitoring, ID Experts takes a uniquely personal approach to identity protection -- whether it's a single individual or family, or up to the largest corporations, government agencies and universities, ID Experts ensures each and every individual receives protection and recovery assistance. Today, ID Experts protects more than 3 million individuals nationwide from identity theft. These customers benefit from ID Experts' team of experienced identity recovery advocates who have a 100 percent success rate in restoring victims' identities to pre-theft status. For more information visit http://www.idexpertscorp.com.
SOURCE ID Experts
