Healthcare Digest 5/24: Healthcare Identity Theft, or is That Your Kidney?

Imagine going to your doctor with, say, kidney stones. (P.s.: Today is Michael Klozotsky’s last day at both insidePatientFinance and insideARM and I’m feeling a lot of FEELINGS today.) Now imagine your doctor saying, “But I just treated you for kidney stones yesterday?”

Or — this is better: “Imagine going in for medical treatment and finding out that your medical records, including your blood type, have been altered. That was the experience of a Florida woman who became the victim of medical identity theft.”

Yikes.

What both those stories have in common is: medical identity theft. Someone pretends to be you to get to your health insurance.

The danger isn’t just in a stranger pretending to be you, of course. Your doctor could be stealing your medical identity, too:

“The other kind likely would be committed by medical practitioners and involves using a person’s identity to obtain money by falsifying medical claims and records.”

Here are some signs someone has been pretending to be you, medically:

• You get a bill for medical services you didn’t receive.

• A debt collector contacts you about medical debt you don’t owe.

• You order a copy of your credit report and see medical collection notices you don’t recognize.

• You try to make a legitimate insurance claim and your health plan says you’ve reached your limit on benefits.

• You’re denied insurance because your medical records show a condition you don’t have.

Friday’s Headlines

Help for Medical Student Loan Debt: “SoFi is extending refinancing options to doctors who have completed residency and graduated from one of the 82 schools in the company’s footprint. Medical-school graduates from Johns Hopkins, University of California – San Francisco, and Washington University of St. Louis are also eligible.” [press release]

Medical Student Loan Debt, Part Deux: “It makes sense to care for those who care for us, right? That’s a message Congress would do well to heed, as medical students continue to incur deep debt to fund their educations with little prospect of paying it off during their lifetimes of treating and healing Americans. [Campus Progress]