Who is allowed to look at your private medical records? You might assume that
the number of people who could view your records would be small: your doctor, your
insurance company, and you. As the owner of your medical information, you should
control who else is allowed to see it. But a ruling by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services appears to change that.
Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet was on my program talking about this overlooked ruling
by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She decreed that all private health insurance companies
turn over medical records of all patients insured by them to the federal government. And
they were to do this without patients’ consent.
In the past, doctors only released information with the patient’s specific consent.
This was often given as a condition for getting an insurer to pay. Of course, if you pay
for medical procedures yourself then your medical records are not available to an
insurance company, but that is becoming exceedingly rare in America. Most of us have
medical records at insurance companies which are now compelled to turn those private
medical records over to the government.
One question is whether this requirement violates the Fifth Amendment to the
Constitution, which states that: “No person . . . shall be deprived of life, liberty, or
property without due process” and later goes on to say that private property cannot be
taken without just compensation.
Dr. Vliet also questioned how the information will be used, fearing that your
medical data could be used to keep you from getting treatments you and your doctor
think you need. The Comparative Effectiveness Research bureaucracy and the
Independent Payment Advisory Board will no doubt use this data to allocate medical
resources or, as some have argued, even ration medical care.
And a final concern is about the security of your medical records. Hackers have
stolen millions of medical records from the Veterans Administration. It is likely your
medical records could become public.
Once again we are learning why it is best to limit the role of government
bureaucrats in our health care. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.