HIPAA privacy act and DHS: no privacy at all.

[endarkenment]

Those of you dealing with elder care have undoubtedly run up against the HIPAA privacy act - it sure makes it difficult to get mom's medical records. What it doesn't do at all is protect your health information from the prying eyes of the monster agency let loose by the Great Fear of 9-11: DHS. Title II of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 104-113) gives DHS access to all medical records for whatever reason it sees fit. Privacy? There is no privacy. Five years after 9-11 and it is clear, at least to me, that from the patriot act to the war on iraq, this event has been used to transform our nation into a neofascist nightmare of pervasive snooping, corporate corruption, and imperial madness. DHS is everything the FBI was never allowed to be back when we were a modestly sane society: an unrestricted national police agency.

[Nikki Stone 1]

1. kick

:kick:

[knitter4democracy]

2. It's not just them.

Your insurance company has full access, and it doesn't entirely prohibit that company from sharing info with your employer. At least, it's still happening with no enforcement in sight.

Many people have access to your personal medical info. The law tries to limit that or at least make sure they know to ensure your privacy, but it's not impossible to find things out.