Joe Kraynak

What Good Is a Privacy Policy?

August 24, 2008 on 5:33 pm | In Consumer Protection |

My doctor has a privacy policy. My health insurance company has a privacy policy. When I see my doctor, however, he bills my insurance company for the services he provided and any tests he ordered. The insurance company has never actually paid a claim, because my medical bills never even come close to my $10,000 deductible.

Yet, whenever my doctor dutifully bills the insurance company (so those billing amounts can be applied to the deductible), he’s giving the insurance company personal information about me that they can use to increase my rates. They now have a complete record of any health issues I have… supplied directly by my doctor.

I rarely see the doctor, but over the course of the past few weeks, I had several doctor’s appointments, a chest x-ray, and a few prescriptions for allergy medications. Within a couple weeks of my most recent visit, I received a notice from my health insurance provider, American Medical Security, that the company was raising my premiums.

I suppose the only solution would be to tell the doctor that I don’t have insurance and just pay cash for everything, saving the receipts in the off-chance that my healthcare costs will exceed my deductible. My question remains, however – What good does a privacy policy do if the doctor has to inform the insurance company in order to get paid?

Sure, the privacy policy could help keep this information from others, including my employer or someone else I might not want to know about it, but the people who can use that information to do the most damage to me financially have ready access to it.