Am I Uninsurable?

Essay by chief100University, Bachelor'sA-, February 2004

download word file, 4 pages 4.0

Am I uninsurable? Should I let "high-risk" problems go by so my rates stay lower? Should I find a outside doctor to take care of an illness that would increase my insurance rate factor? Over 700 insurance companies are joined together to form the Medical Insurance Bureau (MIB), they hold a database on patient records and insurance transactions. What is the balance between the patient right to privacy and the insurance company right to know?

What are our rights? What do we have to protect our medical history? The first one that comes to mind and most medicine is practiced under is the doctors Hippocratic oath : "whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my intercourse with men, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.", is now completely null and void with the introduction of the MIB.

Another of our basic rights comes in 1992, when the AMA stated that medical information must be confidential to the greatest possible degree. The Privacy Act of 1974, which states that no federal agency may disclose information without the consent of the person, also gives us protection from prying eyes. Agencies must also meet certain requirements for protecting information. Medicare and Medicaid are covered under federal laws.

We have rights, so what is this MIB doing with my information? How does the MIB get around these rights? One must only look at the propaganda website of the MIB. The fact and fiction page of the ethics page at the MIB include questions of denying policies, removing errors, coded information, (IAI) insurance activity Index. The first question asked is if companies A and B decline a policy, doesn't the database allow company C to decline coverage without...