Medical Identity Theft

In a report last year, the World Privacy Forum found that the number of Americans identifying themselves in government documents as victims of medical identity theft had nearly tripled in just four years, to more than a quarter-million in 2005.

What is Medical Identity Theft?
Motives for medical identity theft can vary. Some thieves are seeking controlled medications. Others are seeking federal money.

Five health care providers pleaded guilty to stealing more than $900,000 in 2003 by luring hundreds of elderly Vietnamese patients to a fake medical clinic in Milpitas, where they would offer free checkups. According to prosecutors, they would copy the patients' Medicare records and then use the information to bill the government for phantom services.

Of all the forms of identity theft, misappropriation of your medical records is among the most damaging. It's not just the financial toll - if your medical identity is stolen, erroneous entries can turn up in your records, which could end up killing you.
For example, if an identity thief presents himself at the hospital in your name and is identified as having a different blood type, that blood type ends up registered in your medical history, with potentially disastrous consequences if you end up in a serious accident.