Report: Health Insurance Fraud Increasing

Report: Health Insurance Fraud Increasing in Individual Health Insurance

Health insurance fraud is on the rise. Lt. Robert Sebby, who investigates medical identity theft cases, blames unemployment and the failing economy, reports the Las Vegas Sun.

Our migration to electronic medical records probably isn’t helping much either.

Pam Dixon, executive director of the nonprofit World Privacy Forum and author of a report on medical identity theft, warns that without extensive safeguards, we are going to see this type of crime skyrocket.

Remember the medical clerk in Florida a few years ago who downloaded the records of more than 1,000 Medicare patients and gave them to a relative, who made $2.8 million in fraudulent claims with them?

While we agree with the president’s call for electronic medical records (EMR), we hope that it is done with strategy and foresight. A lot of strategy and foresight. Who wants to get a surprise bill for a diabetic’s dialysis in Maryland or an addict’s prescription swindle in Oregon?

Straightening out stolen health care is a special kind of red tape nightmare. Strict patient privacy laws and the decentralized bureaucracy of insurance providers complicates things to Kafka-esque levels.

So, let’s indeed proceed into the brave new world of computerized medical records, but let’s make sure that part of the $19 billion earmarked for the job is used to adequately protect patients’ information.

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