I frequently hear people say that they have no need for ID Theft Protection, like LifeLock®, because they don’t use credit cards. They don’t seem to realize that credit card theft is not the only way a thief can steal your identity, and perhaps ruin your life.
ID Theft is one of the worst and fastest growing crimes today. Its victims’ lives can be virtually destroyed. However, what I don’t believe many people think about when they reflect on ID theft is that even their health records can be stolen.
Today, in most doctors’ offices, it is likely that at least some of your private information - from your social security number, details of your last blood tests, your last mammogram to your family history – is stored electronically.
My personal physician walks around with a laptop to refer to my records, not a chart as he used to do. All my records are neatly stored in that computer. What if the laptop ended up in the wrong hands? The staff might even take my records – or yours - home on a flash drive. Doctors also use smart phones, receiving, inputting and sending patient records over cell phone lines.
There have been security measures put in place, passwords required to access the information, but as we know, computers are not 100% secure, no matter what measures are taken.
According to a report by the Ponemon Institute, a Traverse City, Michigan-based firm that conducts research about privacy and security:
•Health data breaches have grown nationally over the past few years by 32%. Not because of blatant stealing of records by employees, but rather, because of employee negligence and lack of oversight.
•72 organizations were surveyed, and nearly all reported that they had at least one incident of lost or stolen medical information in the previous year.
•Of the four out of five doctors who claim they use smart phones, over half reported they are not taking precautions to encrypt information.
•According to the report by Ponemon Institute, there are three main causes for data breaches. 1) Lost or stolen computing devices, 2) Unintentional release of information by contractors; and unintentional employee action.
•Of those who responded, more than half reported they had little or no confidence that their particular system would be able to detect allbreaches.
Throughout the U.S., medical records of more than 19 million people have been reported breached since September 2009. (That is when the new federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health – HITECH - Act increased the penalties for providers whose data are stolen, lost or otherwise breached, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights.) Plus, thousands of smaller breaches occur annually.
A Detroit-area woman recently filed a lawsuit after a transcription service inadvertently put her medical information on the Internet, her name, medical record number and diagnosis of "cervical dysplasia secondary to HPV (human papillomavirus)," according to the law suit.
Let’s say someone gained access to your health insurance card and visited a physician. That person is then diagnosed and treated for diabetes using your insurance card. From that point forward, every time you see a physician or visit a hospital, you will have that diabetes diagnoses in your medical records, which may well cause treatment that could result in injury or even your death – because you don’t truly have diabetes. Once your medical records are breached, it is nearly impossible to get them reinstated to their original state.
This is a Crime that may well go unnoticed, until it is too late. It isn’t clear how often medical information is misused; a person who steals an ID to get prescription drugs might slip through for years unnoticed. A stolen laptop with patient data might be reported to local police, but never be linked to fraudulent billing in another jurisdiction.
According to Pam Dixon, founder of the California-based World Privacy Forum testified before Congress on the subject of medical ID theft, reported that medical information is worth $50 on the street, compared to $1 or $2 for a Social Security number. There are few safeguards for medical ID theft.
If you are one of those people who believe they have no need for ID Theft Protection, think again. Your financial life, your credit, and yes, even your life and health can be ruined without this protection.
My company, Xpress Healthcare, offers a Lifestyle Select Discount Plan, which includes LifeLock® for only $19.95 per month for your entire immediate family in your home! Prior to having this plan, I paid $12.95 for myself and another $12.95 for my husband for ID Theft Protection. Now, both of us are covered for $5.95 less than we were paying before, PLUS the Lifestyle Select Discount Plan includes discounts on Pet Care, Roadside Assistance, Legal Access and more at no additional cost!
If you don’t have ID Theft Protection, please look at our plans at http://ibourl.net/EverydaySavings. Even if you already have protection, please compare our coverage and the cost of our plan. Perhaps you can save money and get an even better protection using LifeLock®.
Please don’t risk losing everything! It could happen to you!
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Learn how to reduce your Health and Dental expenses AND reduce costs on Hearing, Vision, Prescriptions, Roadside Assistance, Lifelock™ and even more athttp://ibourl.net/XpressSavings (NOT insurance).
To learn about Julie Klein and how you can be successful in network marketing, look at the Xpress Healthcare™ Business Opportunity at http://joinxpresshealthcare.com.
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