Healthcare insurance fraud is becoming more of an issue day-by-day that can cause a victim to lose thousands of dollars and gain a huge amount of stress. Make sure your clients don’t become a victim of health insurance fraud by informing them about these 10 easy methods they can use to protect themselves.

1.) Don’t over share

Avoid sharing personal information at doctor offices or hospitals as much as you can. You don’t want your social security number or your driver’s license number getting into the wrong hands. A common method criminal’s use to get your information is by pretending to be a representative at a health insurance company or a doctor’s office. Be sure to ask if that information is really needed and what it’s needed for.

2.) Be wary of suspicious e-mails

Do not click on e-mails that are unrecognizable and do not respond to e-mails that ask for sensitive personal information unless you have verified that the source is real.

3.) Consistently check your records

Closely evaluate all your health records including what’s in your e-mail for strange or unrecognizable activity as well as health conditions you don’t have. If you spot something that is worrisome, call your primary-care provider and insurance company as soon as possible.

4.) Monitor your credit

Most of the time cases of identity theft are not discovered until it’s too late and will sometimes take 3 months or longer to detect. To avoid circumstances as such from happening be sure to check your credit report once a year to see if someone is using your data improperly.

5.) Be wary of online applications

Think carefully before placing personal information in wearables such as Fitbits or any type of mobile app and health websites. Doing so can put you at risk of data theft.

6.) Be aware of where you store your information

You want to treat your medical data the way that you would treat your tax returns. If you have your data on anything electronical you want to make sure you have it password protected and encrypted. If you have physical copies of your sensitive personal information you want to place those in a locked file cabinet.

7.) Pick either paper or digital records. Not both.

Using both methods can double your risk of data theft. It is much more efficient to choose one method or the other.

8.) Invest in protective software

Buy high-quality virus and malware protection software for extra protection against data theft.

9.) Avoid Wi-Fi that is in public areas

Even amateur hackers can obtain information from anyone using public wi-fi. It is wise to not log into health care apps that have sensitive information while using public wi-fi.

10.) Watch your cloud account

It is wise to avoid storing sensitive accounts and important files on your cloud account because if you have too much important data stored in one online digital place it’s easier for a hacker to obtain it all if it is not secured properly. It is best to use an external hard drive at home that is encrypted and password protected.

Agents

We hope that this information on fraud is useful to you.

Empower Brokerage is dedicated to helping you make informed decisions about your health and finances. Whether it’s through webinar training, one-on-one calls, seminars, or marketing plans, we want you to be successful!

Give us a call at 888-539-1633 or leave a comment below if you have any questions.

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