Imagine all of your health records on one system, a system designed for doctors to have “easy access” to your records to “prevent duplicate health care”.  If all of your health records are on one easily accessible system, all your rehabs visits, your psychiatric records, your health records at the finger tips of all the doctors, and nurses because we all know doctors will not be wasting their time looking you up.  This is a massive invasion of privacy!

You go to apply for a job; your employer has a doctor on speed dial.  They see you are bi-polar and have diabetes.  Another candidate is completely healthy.  Who is going to get hired?  A woman is applying for a promotion.  They run her health records and find she is 3 months pregnant.  Do you think they’ll still promote her?

You go for Life insurance or you want private insurance, they pull up your health records and find you have the “cancer gene” or you are prone to strokes, heart disease, do you think they’ll cover you?

I watched a doctor advocating this system on Fox News and he was asked about the system being compromised.  If someone breaks into a doctor’s office they might get a handful of records but only specific to that doctor, now they can get all your records for millions of people.  His response, “Sure there’s the risk of someone getting millions of records but it’s not different then banks, credit cards numbers being hacked into.”

I beg to differ!  There is a HUGE difference!  If your banking records have been compromised you can change your accounts, you can cancel credit card. You can’t change your medical history!  What if someone steals the records and post names and addresses of all the people that have AIDS?

I can understand that all Medicare/CHIP patients have their information on the system to reduce cost to the taxpayers.  Most are retired or disabled and won’t be seeking employment any time soon.  For people who have private insurance or pay cash – absolutely NOT!  IT MUST be an opt-in system for people with private insurance.

Otherwise it defeats the purpose of the HIPPA laws:  From the Boundaries of the HIPPA Laws: Employers may not obtain personal health information for the purpose of hiring, firing, or determining promotions without the consent of the individual. Additionally, insurance companies may not use personal health information for the purpose of underwriting products such as life insurance. In all cases disclosure is to be limited to the minimum amount necessary for the intended purpose of the disclosure.

If this system is designed to make your records “easily accessible to prevent duplicate care” then there is going to be no way to prevent your records from being compromised!  I have been commenting on articles on this new Electronic Health Care system and I have been called paranoid.  The problem is, it is not me “being paranoid”, it is exactly what is going to happen in this country should this system be implemented!!

I don’t have anything in my health past that would concern me if it should fall in the wrong hands, I just really think this is an invasion of privancy and not fair to the people that have isssues they deal with every day.  It is no one’s business!  Whatever health issue someone has should be between their doctor and them.  Doctor patient privilege will no longer exist!