by Brenda Allington, Florence
After over 35 years as a healthcare provider, I found myself at a mandatory staff retreat in 2005 focused on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which set the standard for sensitive patient data protection. Every time you access health care, you sign an acknowledgment of HIPAA and give permission for your information to be submitted to your insurance carrier. It was made clear that the HIPAA mandate for compliance was compulsory and fraught with penalties if violated.
The US government has spent much time and money writing, revising, and implementing HIPAA– and prosecuting violations. Attempting to undermine patient privacy, Montana Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, wants to access medical records of WOMEN in order to police health care decisions and ultimately violate federal law. Personal privacy has been embraced by the Republican Party as one of its tenets, but it appears only as it applies to them.
As a woman, healthcare provider, veteran, and patriot, I find what is happening in our state (and country) indeed alarming. Without privacy, an employer or insurance carrier can discover your history of depression, herpes, Parkinson’s, or any other health condition that, unbeknownst to you, can impact your career, insurance coverage and premiums, and ultimately your financial security. Additionally, make no mistake–health insurance companies “salivate” at the thought of finding out about your preexisting conditions. They are NOT in the business of your well-being, but rather PROFITS generated by disallowing claims. CEO’s are paid obscene bonuses above their already exorbitant salaries that WE pay for. Junk policies abound as do big premiums with small, if any, payouts, and unrealistic deductibles and co-pays.
Again, in my experience, I have been privy to insurance companies denying claims and have written many letters of “justification.” Maybe self-righteousness persuades one that women should be policed for reproductive decisions, but will it stop there? Beware of the admonition of Pastor Martin Niemoller in his infamous poem, “First They Came.”
To paraphrase: What if … First They Came for the women of childbearing age, and you did not speak out because you were not a woman of childbearing age? Then they came for the sick and you did not speak out because you were not sick? Then they came for the unemployed and you did not speak out because you were employed? And, what if…. when they came for you…. there was no one left to speak out?
“Profound intentional ignorance” hurts everyone—mostly those who are guilty of it. Facts do matter, and fact checking is possible. There are no “alternative facts.” That’s a fact.