If you’re thinking about posting your health or mental health concerns on Facebook or Twitter, you may want to think twice.
According to an article published last week in The LA Times, health insurers will often turn to social networks to check out someone’s story — especially when that person is receiving medical leave or disability payments from an insurer. If you’re filing (or intending to file) a health insurance claim, be careful.
This once-hypothetical scenario is now commonplace, as insurers look for ways to keep cutting costs and payments to what they perceive as people intending to commit fraud against them. In fact, insurance companies don’t just randomly check out a social networking website when a claim comes in — it is now standard practice, according to Peter Foley, vice president of claims administration at the American Insurance Association.
While many of us naively think, “Well, this doesn’t affect me… I would never commit insurance fraud,” this goes way beyond simply insurance fraud. Ordinary people — people suffering from depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety disorder — may find themselves being denied their benefits because of a photo uploaded to Facebook. In once case, the photo showed a woman apparently having fun on the beach when she was supposed to be depressed.
The LA Times’ Shan Li has the story…