Why are you willing to let a federal politician or bureaucrat have access to your health record?

No bureaucrat or politician can look up “what was said between you and your doctor”. Pretty sad that you believe that.

The real problem is that politicians and the media get away with telling you that, and you vote against your interests based on the fiction.

What are my interests? I gave all that away with the VA.
And what I said is true.

I asked that question many times during the previous century. It’s blackmail. People want access to health care, and the industry, insurance companies, and government, all seemed even then to really be committed to forcing you to accept the system and surrender your information. Also, of course, your money and whatever other power grabs they can work into the system.

The reason why people would be willing? Many don’t think about it, and/or accept what seems to be the norm in most things. Others may think about but realize that the system is very often very inflexible. And when people are sick or dying or otherwise really want/need medical attention, it’s not first on their list.

Of course, in this century, there are many other far more nasty power grabs and so on to worry about, so medical info privacy is buried down on my list of things I wish our society did differently.

But in principle, yeah, it’s a moral outrage that all sorts of organizations, government and corporate both, track and violate people’s information in so many ways, including medical info.

Isn’t the main reason they want to know, so the insurance industry can squeeze maximum cash out of you by crunching the numbers to calculate how much to charge (or whether to let you get) health (and/or life) insurance?

I agree it’s a big deal.

But I think global climate change, ocean acidification, ecosystem destruction, extinctions, government corruption, people electing an evil clown as POTUS, etc etc etc are more pressing to me.

Back when I was about 20 I went to my doctor to get my ears flushed since I was about to fly overseas. Since I was there I had them look at a rash on my leg. The doctor said it was psoriasis. The doctor also said it was so small it might go away on its own. Which it did.

I didn’t have insurance at the time and I was paying cash for the visit. The doctor knew that. But he still mentioned that he wasn’t going to put the psoriasis in my chart since it could affect my ability to get private healthcare in the future.

So the question is how would a private health insurance company get info from my doctor I paid cash for if I wanted to purchase insurance. I will take my doctors word for it and assume it is possible.

So the premise that your medical info is just between you and your doctor is fundamentally flawed.

Edit :: And there is this.

@johnpowell
In my opinion it should be a federal crime for anyone to attempt to know the nature of the transaction between a physician and a patient without express permission of the patient. They may know that it occurred, but not what occurred..

Our healthcare system is still (mostly) a for-profit venture. Without such access what would prevent healthcare providers from overcharging, or ordering unnecessary services, or withholding services from customers they think cannot pay?
There needs to be some for of checks and balances. Like it or not the government provides that, (mostly).

It is a crime already, @josie. That’s what HIPPA is all about.

I could care less if they want to see my health record. What I don’t want them to see is my voting record.

So how are we going to force people to eat differently or exercise if we can’t know what goes on between them and their doctor?

You can’t force anyone, an adult anyway, to do anything @Darth_Algar. And what does that have to do with the government?

@Dutchess_III

See @josie‘s other question.