Medical Identity Theft

Question: Write an essay on Medical Identity Theft? Answer: The current study focuses on the concerning issue of medical identity theft. It considers the information provided in the newspaper article of USA Today and NBC News. Significant information regarding the topic is retrieved from the websites of Smart Card Alliance (SMA), Federal Trade Commissions Consumer information and USA government website as well. The issue of using another persons identity rather protected health information (PHI), for gaining medical services, defrauding private insurers, attaining benefits from government programs as Medicaid and Medicare and procuring drugs poses a massive threat to the individual health and trust in the healthcare system contributing to a high rise of the overall healthcare expenditure. The newspaper articles mentioned here provides information regarding the striking rise of 22% in the medical identity theft (MIT) in USA in the year 2014 victimizing around 2.3 million adult Americans (NBC News, 2015). This article presents deep insights on the process of the medical identity theft execution and the problems in its detection and resolution. It also highlights the adverse effects it has on the individual health and healthcare system as well. The USA today identifies an expenditure of $13, 500 and loss of health insurance by about 65% of the MIT victims in USA. It also points out a very low portion of only 10% cases solved (Selena Maranjian, 2015). This article identifies the probable reasons of the MITs as cyber attacks leading to security breaches. The evidence of Anthem, Americas 2nd largest health insurer facing this issue of breach along with Premera Blue Cross depicts an influence on 11 million members. This article is chosen for the reason that it not only sheds light on the issue and concept of MIT but also provides relevant solutions to resolve and handle this issue effectively. The website of SMA provides considerable statistical data on the MIT in healthcare system of USA. It gives detail insights on the impact of the MIT event on American healthcare system and individuals. It also highlights the governmental action of investing $1.7 billion to fraud detection in 2011 budget of US Health and Human Services Department (Smartcardalliance.org, 2015). This website provides additional information and evidences of MIT. It identifies the health legislatures associated with the prevention and handling of this issue. The website of Federal Trade Commissions Consumer information is seen to shed light on a significant aspect of MIT, which is the detection of the theft (Consumer.ftc.gov, 2015). It is highly difficult to detect the MIT occurrence initially. The website of the USA government provides with significant information regarding the relevant procedures and actions that an individual can take to protect own medical identity thus preventing the risk of MIT effectively. It gives clear and deep idea of ones right to protect their medical identity and prevent MIT (Usa.gov, 2015). Going through the study of MIT a question naturally comes to mind that how the criminals who use and commit the MIT phenomenon could be identified and what is the most appropriate punishment for them to stop this? References Consumer.ftc.gov,. (2015).Medical Identity Theft | Consumer Information. Retrieved 24 April 2015, from https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0171-medical-identity-theft NBC News,. (2015).Stolen Identity: 2.3 Million Americans Suffer Medical ID Theft. Retrieved 24 April 2015, from https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/stolen-identity-2-3-million-americans-suffer-medical-id-theft-n311006 Selena Maranjian, T. (2015).New kind of identity theft you haven't heard of.USA TODAY. Retrieved 24 April 2015, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2015/03/28/the-new-kind-of-identity-theft-you-havent-heard-of/25091257/ Smartcardalliance.org,. (2015).Alliance Activities : Publications : Medical Identity Theft in Healthcare Smart Card Alliance. Retrieved 24 April 2015, from https://www.smartcardalliance.org/publications-medical-identity-theft-in-healthcare/ Usa.gov,. (2015).Protect Your Medical Privacy | USA.gov. Retrieved 24 April 2015, from https://www.usa.gov/topics/family/privacy-protection/medical.shtml