In This Chapter

Few people enjoy heading to the doctor’s office, let alone the hospital, and no one likes writing checks for medical insurance, co-pays, or exorbitant bills. But if you’re reading this chapter, then you may have been contacted by a healthcare provider—whether doctor, hospital, clinic, medical testing lab, pharmacy, home nursing firm, or medical device company—or collection agency asking you to pay a bill for care you never needed or received. Your insurance company might have sent a form explaining some treatment you never actually had, or you have seen collection accounts for healthcare bills on your credit reports.

You may be dealing with something more invasive and painful than a root canal: medical identity theft.