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Everyone deserves affordable legal protection. $19.95 a month Legalshield membership overview on how it works. Membership covers you, your spouse and up to 8 dependents in household, in all 50 states, all areas of law. That's exactly why I joined. Sounds like you're ready to join.
You MUST watch this to avoid a similar nightmare from happening to your family. Then answer two questions:
1. Wouldn't it be worth 66 cents a day to protect my family and not worry? 2. Why would I want any ID theft service that isn't connected with legal services?
This
Grandma, as a retired bank Vice President, did everything right yet her
identity was compromised, she was forced to spend $50,000 in legal
bills to defend herself and the police still thinks she is a criminal.
Identity theft is a complex, worldwide problem. It is defined in various
ways but in essence it is the misuse of another's individual personal
identification to commit fraud. Identity thieves can act alone, but
increasingly law enforcement agencies report thieves are forming
networks to operate nationwide and even on other continents. In the
United States alone, the Federal Trade Commission hears from over 20,000
consumers a week that have had their identity stolen or believe they
are about to become victims. In this report, VOA's Paul Sisco takes a
look at some of the ways identity thieves ply their trade.
* Been overcharged for a repair? * Received a speeding ticket? * Been audited? * Purchased a home? * Tried to return a defective product? * Lost a security deposit? * Signed a contract? * Prepared a will?
Even
though most people find themselves in these situations, the majority do
not seek the advice or help of a qualified lawyer. Why?
* It may cost too much. * They may not know where to begin. * The process is intimidating.
You
only get as much justice as you can afford. If you don't know your
rights, you simply don't have any! The top 10% of income earners can
afford to have a lawyer on retainer and are accustomed to asking their
lawyer for advice before making decisions. What about you?
* You know who to call. * You're treated like the firm's most important client. * 66 cents a day for "for legal and identity theft protection. * You are empowered by knowing your legal rights.
* You may try to handle it yourself. * You'll likely receive as much justice as you can afford. * You'll pay $200-$300 for just ONE HOUR of a lawyer's time. * If you don't know your rights, you don't have any!
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You
surely know about the dangers of identity theft, where someone who has
obtained some of your personal information, such as your Social Security
number, uses that to get money (often yours) or credit. It can cause
massive headaches, at the very least. There's not just a single kind of
identity theft, though. There's one kind in particular that has been
happening more often lately. You probably don't know about it and you
definitely should. It's medical identity theft.
The Federal Trade
Commission has warned consumers about this growing danger, explaining
medical identity theft thusly: "A thief may use your name or health
insurance numbers to see a doctor, get prescription drugs, file claims
with your insurance provider, or get other care. If the thief's health
information is mixed with yours, your treatment, insurance and payment records, and credit report may be affected."
A growing problem
Here's
how much of a growing problem medical identity theft is: There's a
Medical Identity Fraud Alliance, or MIFA. And it has studied the matter,
estimating that 2.3 million Americans were victimized by it in 2014, up
almost 22% over 2013. That's a lot of people -- and a fast growth rate.
Worse, along with the Ponemon Institute, MIFA has surveyed Americans,
finding that among victims of medical identity theft, 65%, about
two-thirds, ended up spending an average of $13,500 to straighten
matters out. Victims also lost a lot of time -- an average of about 200
hours spent trying to resolve their cases. Can it get any worse than
that? Yup, it can: the folks at MIFA found that only 10% of those
surveyed reached a "completely satisfactory conclusion of the incident."
And while about a fifth of victims suffered a decrease in their credit
score, almost a third lost their health insurance.
Part of the
problem likely stems from cyberattacks and security breaches at major
corporations, when thousands or millions of people's data is stolen in
one fell swoop. That happened recently at America's second-largest
health insurer, Anthem, for example, and even more recently at Premera
Blue Cross, based in Washington State. Premera Blue Cross' breach is
believed to affect 11 million members, and a Reuters report has
explained that "the attackers may have gained access to claims data,
including clinical information, along with banking account numbers,
Social Security numbers, birth dates and other personal data in an
attack that began in May 2014 and was uncovered on Jan. 29 of this
year." See some potential problems? Right. (Anthem believes that medical
information was not stolen in its breach that affected close to 80
million people.)
What to do
Fortunately, if you're
now quivering in fear, worrying about being victimized, know that you're
not completely powerless. There are some steps you can take to reduce
your chances of falling prey:
Check your credit reports regularly
for any strange unpaid bills that an identity thief might have
generated. You're entitled to one free copy of your credit report each
year from each of the three main reporting bureaus, and you can access
those at AnnualCreditReport.com. To be strategic about it, you might
space out your three annual copies, requesting one every four months, so
that you're getting information more regularly than once a year.
It
also helps to know your Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act rights and to ask your healthcare providers if you can see your
electronic health records, to check for errors -- especially if you know
or suspect that you've been victimized. Read your
explanation-of-benefits statements from providers, too, to check for any
fraudulent charges. Know that you can ask health plans and medical
providers for an "accounting of disclosures," too, which is a listing of
who has received your records and what information they received. You
should, by law, be able to get one copy per year from each provider.
Don't
give out your personal information to friends or family members so that
they can access some medical care. The data from MIFA shows that about a
quarter of victims had given identifying information to a friend or
family member.
Be on the lookout for scams, such as if someone
claims to work for a healthcare company and offers you some services for
free or for a too-good-to-be-true price, requiring your Social Security
number or other personal data.
If you find that you've been
victimized -- and it can take several months for someone to notice,
perhaps after receiving an unexpected bill or a collections notice --
report it. Many people don't report medical identity theft. Reasons
include being embarrassed (such as if they gave their information to a
trusted person) or not knowing where to report it. You can report
problems to your health care provider, your insurer, and federal and state authorities. You can also contact your local police department,
your state Attorney General's office, and the Department of Health and
Human Services. Medical identity theft is a scary scam, but by
taking certain steps, you may be able to either avoid it or minimize its
damage, should it happen to you.
