Is there an Ulterior Motive for HIPAA?

HIPAA is the ‘Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’ of 1996. It still remains in force today. The United States Congress passed the act to protect the privacy of people’s sensitive health care information.

Sounds like a great idea, right?

If we don’t have privacy for our health information, the information could be used for corrupt and nefarious ends.

• Discriminating against people in their jobs

• Identity theft to obtain free health care and have the bill go back to the victim

• Make false claims with insurance companies to receive payouts

Plus it can just be embarrassing to have any health care conditions you have out in the public.

Health care providers go to great length to comply with this law. Our assisted living homes keep everything on paper and use antiquated fax machines to protect the data rather than put it on the internet. Larger providers have to use complicated encryption software that is a pain to use.

I have to do some medical billing with large providers. Trust me when I say it is challenging to do anything with all the security barriers.

There are some severe penalties levied against health care providers who don’t comply with this law.

Not to mention all the costs for the security.

I can’t help thinking though, that there is more to it than just good faith protection of private information.

Maybe I’m a little paranoid because of what we’ve been through with all the Covid information that has come out.

Or maybe it bothers me that healthcare in the United States is pretty much the only commercial industry where you don’t know the price of a service before you purchase. Sometimes you never know the cost of the healthcare procedure.

The cost is just billed to insurance. Many times at some crazy rate.

Try asking for a cash price the next time you’re in the hospital. That might be difficult to actually find out. Then compare it to the price the hospital charges the insurance company for the same  procedure.

Often there will be a difference of 70-90% between the two prices. The cash price will be so much less.

If you don’t do this exercise you may never know. Nor do a lot of health care companies want you to know.

There are other kinds of information I don’t think healthcare companies want you to know.

Like maybe the pharmaceutical companies and their history of lawsuits against them.

Or the healthcare industry’s track record for curing chronic diseases? Hint: It’s not that good.

Try to Google something like “Chronic diseases cured by modern medicine”. Usually they talk about some viral or bacterial infections that have been cured with antibiotics.

The big ones like heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s etc. haven’t. Not a single one. Even smaller ones like diabetes or arthritis are not seeing cures.

In fact the incidents of chronic diseases are accelerating.

Not a very good track record for the health care industry. Although it is a very good track record if you look at it from a profitability perspective.

More sick people means more profitable customers. What’s the incentive for curing people if the patients won’t need you anymore?

And maybe that’s a reason to keep as much information about your industry as hidden as possible. If people aren’t allowed to share actual results, then customers may not demand better performance from their healthcare providers?

They don’t really compare performance of one health care provider vs others. Nobody has to compete on price and thus lower prices because all that data is confidential.

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will. It just bothers me that we have to take such extraordinary precautions with information that might help others and improve our industry.