Top Docs 2008 Part IV: How to Fight Back

Protective Measures
When it comes to managing your health insurance information, diligence is the best policy.

One group of uninsured Americans has found an alarming way to deal with medical costs: Put it all on someone else’s tab. Identity thieves, notorious for hijacking financial data, are now also using stolen medical information to open the door to prescription drugs and hospital care.

Though medical identity theft accounts for only a fraction of this type of crime, Harvard Pilgrim customer service VP Lynn Bowman says it’s critical that people keep close tabs on their insurance card. “Treat it like a credit card,” she says. “The only time you should be giving out insurance information is to your insurer or your provider, or possibly your child’s school. And never to a telemarketer.”

Healthcare freeloaders can also wreak havoc on victims’ medical files—things that may go undiscovered for years. “When services are used, that gets into the medical record,” Bowman says, “which in turn is accessed when, for instance, you’re trying to get life insurance. If a diabetic used your card, suddenly you’re a diabetic.”

Here are some more tips—courtesy of the state Attorney General’s Office—on thwarting would-be imposters:

• If your health insurer uses your Social Security number as your ID number, ask for a new, random one.
• Periodically ask your pharmacy for a printout of all prescriptions dispensed to you.
• Carefully review the privacy policies of any Internet health-record storage services (i.e., Google Health) before using them.