ACA Repeal Could Affect Your Identity

It’s not clear when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be repealed or how it will be replaced. But when it happens, it’s possible that as the population of uninsured people grows, there is an increased likelihood of medical identity theft for Americans who still have coverage. Stolen medical identities already fetch a high-price on the black market. With an estimated 18 million people about to be uninsured, there will be that many more desperate people who will pay to use someone else’s coverage.

Medical identity theft is bad for your health: it can introduce possibly life-threatening inaccuracies into your medical record, it can use up the annual or lifetime caps on your health insurance, and it can run up medical debts that affect your credit rating.

According to this Huffington Post article, there’s a heightened risk of medical identity theft. It’s more important than ever that you carefully review bills from your doctors and explanation of benefits (EOB) forms from your health insurance company. When you do your quarterly review of your credit report, check for any medical collections that shouldn’t be there. Good healthcare hygiene is now more important than ever.