More than 280,000 Medicare recipients are being affected by the federal government's decision not to provide them with new ID cards even though they could have been the victims of
identity theft.
According to a Department of Health and Human Services report obtained by
USA Today, these consumers won't receive new cards because government officials indicate doing so would be too costly and too many agencies have to be involved to get new cards to the recipients.
In the report, HHS stated that The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service, which administers Medicare, needs to work with these victims to ensure they can still obtain care through the program.
Additionally, HHS noted the CMS should adjust billing records for patients as well. However, the agency stated otherwise.
"Our major concern is that CMS's adjustment of beneficiary billing records could have a negative impact on criminal and civil prosecutions and on the underlying integrity of the Medicare claims processing system," CMS acting administrator Marilyn Tavenner said in response to the HHS' claims.
Adam Levin, chairman of Identity Theft 911, has a blog about the specific dangers medical identity theft and other types of fraud pose to consumers.
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