The small and unassuming 3.25” x 1.75” healthcare card that sits in your wallet or handbag can save your life and improve your health, but it can also ruin the rest of your golden years if it falls into the wrong hands. The Medicare card that you carry around has your identifying information, including your social security number, and social security numbers are the prime piece of information coveted by identity thieves. Once your social security number is compromised, so is your financial future.

There are a variety of ways that identity theft can occur, but a criminal using your social security number and name to open credit cards, get loans or other merchandise is the most common, and often times, most expensive and troublesome to fix. .

Unfortunately, senior citizens are often prime targets for identity theft as the criminals know that many seniors have established credit, money saved in the bank and may not be as technologically advanced as younger generations. And of course, with many seniors carrying Medicare cards around, one card can give thieves everything they need. Many times, victims may not even realize their Medicare card has been stolen for days or weeks.

“Identity theft is something that can happen to any person from child to senior,” says Todd Davis, Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist and CEO of LifeLock. “Though many seniors have taken the warning of not carrying their social security cards, they still carry around their Medicare cards, and that is just as dangerous as more and more identity thieves are looking for opportunity.”

To avoid Medicare-related identity theft, the main thing to remember is that you only need to carry your Medicare card if you are planning on leaving town or going to the doctor’s office or pharmacy. Don’t carry it if you are running normal errands. If you have an unexpected emergency room visit, you can get them your Medicare information at a later time.

In addition to keeping track of your Medicare card, you should always be diligent and aware of your finances, and be able to recognize changes in your bank statements, credit reports and other accounts. To help monitor those aspects, here are some tips:
Get your credit report. It’s easy online, www.annualcreditreport.com. Get a written statement of your status as a baseline for future problems.
Credit Monitoring. This watches your credit report and alerts you after any questionable activity. If there’s a problem, you’ll need to fix it yourself.
Credit Freezes. For about $10 per credit bureau, you can lock your report, and a transaction cannot take place, even if you initiate it. To make a purchase, you’ll have to make calls, do paperwork and pay. To reactivate the freeze, you’ll need to pay again.
Do It Yourself. Shred all receipts and documents. Remove yourself from junk mail lists (1-888-5-OPT-OUT). Call any one of three credit reporting agencies used by lending institutions to verify credit, and request a fraud alert be placed on your account. They’ll place an alert for 90 days. This will not automatically renew, so you’ll need to call again 90 days later.

Hire a professional organization. Some identity theft prevention companies will do all of the above for you and more. They’ll get your credit reports, place fraud alerts, and remove you from lists. Some, like LifeLock, even guarantee up to $1 million that identity theft problems will never affect you, and monitor the Internet for your name and vital information to see if it is being sold or traded illegally. Increasingly people are using such services for the convenience they provide.

Since you’ve worked hard your whole life to make it a good one, be sure that all that you have worked for isn’t compromised by an identity thief. Take the time and care to monitor your finances or hire someone do it for you as the last thing you want to deal with is restoring your good name after an identity theft.