A Quest Diagnostics Inc. requisition form is displayed for a photograph at Perry Memorial Hospital in Princeton, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017.

Medical identity theft like the recent breach involving nearly 12 million Quest Diagnostics patients can cost you lots of money.

In 2018, there were 87,765 cases of medical and insurance-related identity theft, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That represents more than a quarter of all reported identity-theft cases.

One 2015 study found the medical identity theft cost the average victim $13,500 to fix.

"Medical identity theft can be even more damaging than standard identity theft," said Sterling Price, health-care analyst at ValuePenguin, a financial website. "Criminals use your information to purchase costly medical services, which can lead to tens of thousands of dollars in damages and often take years to fix completely."

Quest, one of the nation's largest clinical laboratories, announced earlier this month that an unauthorized user gained access to the personal information — including Social Security numbers and financial data — of nearly 12 million patients.

Quest said it will be notifying people who were affected.

There are steps everyone can take to make sure tasks such as picking up prescriptions or corresponding with your health insurer don't leave you at risk for identity theft.