Medical Fraud

I received a notice from my university hospital that my personal information had been breached. It was actually a very simple mistake. It happened when someone sent an email to all of us in the ILD Support Group regarding the retirement of Sally, the founder of the group. Thoughtfully, it was sent to gather cards and videos to surprise Sally at her retirement party. The only problem was they included all of our email addresses instead of the usual "group" email that did not even list our names.

Having not spotted the problem, I received a follow up email from the head administrator a few days later when someone there realized what had happened. We were told to trash the email and to empty our trash. I just received a letter in the mail explaining that because the names and email addresses were listed, some personal information was at risk. What that specifically addressed was Medicare or insurance fraud. No Social Security numbers were exposed, though. We were asked to carefully review our Medicare and insurance statements to insure we actually received the services listed as paid.

All because of a simple email.

Do you review your Medicare or insurance statements? I always have and, in the past, spotted problems. It is important. Don't be afraid of contacting Medicare with questions as they are truly the nicest people to deal with over the phone.