How private insurers invaded your medical privacy (and how the ACA protects it)

[Mr Spinkles]

Guess what insurance companies selling on the individual market used to ask you if you wanted a quote, before the Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

Most people don't know how this works because most people, before the ACA, didn't even bother to shop around on the individual health insurance market. Most people got insurance through their employers or government, because individual insurance (a) discriminated against you and refused to cover you if you have medical conditions, (b) was typically much more expensive or (c) didn't offer significant coverage, and (d) it was next to impossible to compare the offerings of multiple insurance companies and make a smart choice. There was no single website where you can compare prices for the exact same insurance ("gold" "silver" or "bronze"), instead there were many websites and every insurance plan was different in the fine print.

Insurers would give customers a questionnaire with all sorts of questions, like the questionnaire with over 200 questions in this link, plus an "essay section" where you write in any medical conditions they forgot to ask about: http://www.washingtonhealth.hca.wa.gov/documents/shq.pdf

Question #124 asks if you have had: "Rectum or anus inflammation – with surgery completed or recommended in the future (examples: anal fistula, rectal prolapse)"

Question #198 asks if you have: "Other gynecologic conditions (examples: Bartholin’s gland conditions, dysmenorrhea, hematometra, menopausal conditions, metrorrhagia, problems with menstruation, vaginal infection including yeast infections, vaginitis)"

This is the type of thing that will be going bye-bye as the ACA takes effect. Under the ACA, insurers have to provide a quote WITHOUT asking such embarrassing questions, because the answers are IRRELEVANT, because the ACA makes it illegal for insurers to deny coverage based on "pre-existing conditions".

 

[Jeremy Mason]

Interesting.

 

[esmith]

Guess what insurance companies selling on the individual market used to ask you if you wanted a quote, before the Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

Most people don't know how this works because most people, before the ACA, didn't even bother to shop around on the individual health insurance market. Most people got insurance through their employers or government, because individual insurance (a) discriminated against you and refused to cover you if you have medical conditions, (b) was typically much more expensive or (c) didn't offer significant coverage, and (d) it was next to impossible to compare the offerings of multiple insurance companies and make a smart choice. There was no single website where you can compare prices for the exact same insurance ("gold" "silver" or "bronze"), instead there were many websites and every insurance plan was different in the fine print.

Insurers would give customers a questionnaire with all sorts of questions, like the questionnaire with over 200 questions in this link, plus an "essay section" where you write in any medical conditions they forgot to ask about: http://www.washingtonhealth.hca.wa.gov/documents/shq.pdf

Question #124 asks if you have had: "Rectum or anus inflammation – with surgery completed or recommended in the future (examples: anal fistula, rectal prolapse)"

Question #198 asks if you have: "Other gynecologic conditions (examples: Bartholin’s gland conditions, dysmenorrhea, hematometra, menopausal conditions, metrorrhagia, problems with menstruation, vaginal infection including yeast infections, vaginitis)"

This is the type of thing that will be going bye-bye as the ACA takes effect. Under the ACA, insurers have to provide a quote WITHOUT asking such embarrassing questions, because the answers are IRRELEVANT, because the ACA makes it illegal for insurers to deny coverage based on "pre-existing conditions".

Uh, excuse me this has nothing to do with your privacy AFTER you submitted your information into the system. Spin,Spin, watch the wheel go around. Deflect,Deflect, watch the new shinny ball.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

Uh, excuse me this has nothing to do with your privacy AFTER you submitted your information into the system. Spin,Spin, watch the wheel go around. Deflect,Deflect, watch the new shinny ball.

This IS the information you submitted to "the system", i.e. the health insurance company's system, before the ACA. And health insurance companies were regularly fined for compromising their customers' private information about their anuses and vaginas:

Lawmakers and critics of Obamacare point to incidents involving the insurers that will be sending data into the hub and the government. In the most recent example, WellPoint Inc. (WLP) last week paid $1.7 million to settle potential violations of U.S. privacy laws when a company website left the health data of 612,402 customers unprotected over the Internet.

Obamacare Privacy Fears Loom as Computer Links Agencies - Bloomberg

 

[Twilight Hue]

I was wondering how all this would be implemented without conflict with already established federal HIPAA laws.

 

[esmith]

I was wondering how all this would be implemented without conflict with already established federal HIPAA laws.

It is going to be an interesting donkey brook I would imagine. Of course Obama can just issue one of his famous executive orders and presto-changeo it's fixed.

 

[LuisDantas]

It is going to be an interesting donkey brook I would imagine. Of course Obama can just issue one of his famous executive orders and presto-changeo it's fixed.

One almost gets the sense that he is the President of the United States, doesn't one?

 

[esmith]

One almost gets the sense that he is the President of the United States, doesn't one?

Yep unfortunately he is and it appears that he thinks he can change a law with just one swipe of his magic pen.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

It is going to be an interesting donkey brook I would imagine. Of course Obama can just issue one of his famous executive orders and presto-changeo it's fixed.

I think you both imagine, and hope it.

The fact is, HIPPA is about protecting the privacy of your medical information so that employers/insurers can't discriminate against you based on your medical information. You don't give out medical information on HealthCare.gov because the ACA made it illegal to discriminate based on pre-existing conditions, so that information is unnecessary. The information you give is your identity and your income status to determine whether you qualify for government subsidies. OBVIOUSLY that information must be shared with other parties, such as the insurance companies (to get a quote) and the IRS (to prevent people from cheating). Your insurance company MUST know basic things about you such as who you are and how old you are, that was true before the ACA. And the IRS is entitled to know about your income, again that predates the ACA. Privacy is not an issue here, at least, not the horrible apocalyptic issue conservatives are hoping it will be.

The ACA is not perfect but that is just another right-wing bogeyman.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I think you both imagine, and hope it.

The fact is, HIPPA is about protecting the privacy of your medical information so that employers/insurers can't discriminate against you based on your medical information. You don't give out medical information on HealthCare.gov because the ACA made it illegal to discriminate based on pre-existing conditions, so that information is unnecessary. The information you give is your identity and your income status to determine whether you qualify for government subsidies. OBVIOUSLY that information must be shared with other parties, such as the insurance companies (to get a quote) and the IRS (to prevent people from cheating). Your insurance company MUST know basic things about you such as who you are and how old you are, that was true before the ACA. And the IRS is entitled to know about your income, again that predates the ACA. Privacy is not an issue here, at least, not the horrible apocalyptic issue conservatives are hoping it will be.

The ACA is not perfect but that is just another right-wing bogeyman.

I dunno. There is still information asked on the website that may still conflict with HIPPA. This is ongoing now.

Does The Obamacare Website Violate Your Privacy? HIPAA Compliance Debate Rages At House HealthCare.gov Hearing

 

[Mr Spinkles]

I dunno. There is still information asked on the website that may still conflict with HIPPA. This is ongoing now.

Does The Obamacare Website Violate Your Privacy? HIPAA Compliance Debate Rages At House HealthCare.gov Hearing

Maybe. The only thing I know for sure is that if there's even a 0.1% chance that the ACA implementation violates some other law, the Right will use it as an excuse to try to sabotage the ACA.

Anyway, according to your article the only medical-related question is whether you smoke or not and that apparently doesn't violate HIPPA. What would it mean to keep this info "private" anyway? If your info. can't be disclosed to health insurers how can they provide a quote? If it can't be disclosed to the IRS how can they provide a subsidy? You aren't disclosing info. to parties that shouldn't have that info, this is just paranoia. Before "Obamacare" if you applied for a quote from an insurance company it was standard to fill out a 200-question form on the medical status of your anus and your vagina, as I showed in the OP. Now HealthCare.gov wants to share a much more limited and less intrusive set of data with those same insurance companies in order to get you a bunch of quotes to compare, and that's a breach of privacy? Please.