New study shows one in seventeen U.S. adults become victims of medical identity theft

March 4, 2010 – 3:46 pm

A new study done by the National Study on Medical Identity Theft polled over 156,000 people and came up with a very interesting figure. A whopping 5.8% reported having been victims of medical identity theft in the past. That percentage translates to nearly 1 in 17 adults or 1.42 million people that have been had their identity stolen from medical documents in the United States.

Furthermore, the average cost per victim was $20,160. As we’ve posted before, the length of time that passes between the time of the theft and the victim becoming away directly increases the cost to the victim. In this case 29% of the victims discovered the theft a year after the theft. 21% said it took two or more years. More surprisingly is that almost half of the victims lost their coverage due to no fault of their own. Only a quarter of these that responded said the medical identity theft caused no additional consequences.

But how was this information stolen? Nearly a third was a result of a family member taking their information without their knowledge. The rest was due to either stolen medical records, lost or stolen wallets or purses and data breaches — mostly from insurance company records.

Medical identity theft is only one of the many ways that people can abuse your good name. Make sure you’re protected by a company that can let you know if or when identity theft happens to you. As identity theft grows, it’s important to know there’s someone looking out for you and your family.

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