Medical Record Theft Grows : ObamaCare -'What Theft?'

Medical theft seems not a concern for the progressive socialists that brought us the ObamaCare panacea of health care for everyone. It seems that the purveyors of this health care nightmare, that is rapidly driving the entire health care system into chaos, is not a problem. 

Puzzling for the ObamaCare designers are those that are opposed to this over reaching catastrophic disaster. That the opposition has the gall to challenge the very bases of a national health care system that seeks only to assure the poor have medial insurance coverage, that they find medial theft a problem worthy of hand wringing or hair on fire opposition, leaves the administration perplexed.

The administration believes that medial theft, in the light of the bigger problem, insuring the disadvantaged, should not be a focus of the congress at this time. Proof of the administrations unconcern is the entire program design never included patient security was not addressed from the beginning.

Providing for the poor was such a good feeling that details like theft of medial records or how insurance companies would be able to identify individual payments never entered the mind of Mr Obama or his friends. Who cares, "what difference does it make anyway", opposition to such a feel-good program is evidence of Republican hate for the poor, women and children.

So the advice from Mr Obama and the other progressive socialists is 'just shut up and go with the flow.' Basking in the warmth and light of knowing that you are doing the right thing should be enough for anyone whether the program works of not.

Rise of Medical Identity Theft
Source: Michael Ollove, "The Rise of Medical Identity Theft," Stateline, February 7, 2014.

February 17, 2014

Medical identity theft has risen alongside technological developments, says Stateline.
In 2013, 43 percent of all data breaches in the United States involving personal information were breaches of medical records.

Not only does medical identity theft lead to financial consequences for victims, but often victims end up with incorrect medical information in their files as a result of the thief's use of their information. Medical identity theft is used to obtain medical services, devices, insurance reimbursements or drugs.

One of the concerns with the Affordable Care Act has been whether the health insurance exchanges could lead to privacy concerns. Moreover, the law has emphasized digitizing medical records as a way to cut costs and increase efficiency, but growing concerns exist that digital records only open the door to further identity theft.

According to the World Privacy Forum, medical identify theft can come in a number of forms:

• A psychiatrist in Massachusetts created false diagnoses of drug addiction and depression for patients that he had never actually treated in order to submit insurance claims for psychiatric sessions that never happened. When one of the victims applied for a job, he found out about the false diagnosis, despite never having been a patient of the psychiatrist.
• One man in Colorado received a $44,000 bill for a surgery that he had never had after his personal information was stolen.
• One thief used a Pennsylvania man's identity at five hospitals, receiving more than $100,000 worth of treatment. All of his medical records were in the victim's name.
• A Missouri thief created false driver's licenses for those whose identities she stole. Using one of the licenses, she went to a hospital, obtained the victim's health records and received a prescription.

Personal information can be stolen from hacking into computer networks or from stealing laptops. The Department of Health and Human Services says that half of all medical security breaches result from the theft of a computer or electronic device.