Safety Concerns and Health Insurance Reform

10 Riskiest Places to Give Your Social Security Number
As 2011 looms with changes for your health insurance plan this article from Kiplinger's offers some very sound advice to protect your identity and your very important data.

This goes with out many years of addressing privacy and personal data safety issues(too easy access to your data, even without you permission under HIPPA), data hacking along with data mining and collection, and sale of your data (like what was done w/o your knowledge at RealAge).

Here's how to lower the chances of your number falling into the wrong hands -- and what to do if it does.

By Cameron Huddleston, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger.com

McAfee, the antivirus software company, recently released a list of the most dangerous places to give your Social Security number. Many of the places on the list might surprise you:

1. Universities and colleges
2. Banking and financial institutions
3. Hospitals
4. State governments
5. Local government
6. Federal government
7. Medical businesses (These are businesses that concentrate on services and products for the medical field, such as distributors of diabetes or dialysis supplies, medical billing services, pharmaceutical companies, etc.)
8. Non-profit organizations
9. Technology companies
10.Health insurers and medical offices 

The places are ranked based on the number of data breaches involving Social Security numbers from January 2009 to October 2010. What’s most disturbing is that you must disclose your Social Security number if you want to receive services from most of those places (either as required by law or the groups' own policies).
So I asked Adam Levin, chairman and co-founder of Identity Theft 911, what people could do to prevent their Social Security numbers from falling into the wrong hands and keep their identities safe. "It’s obvious there is no slam-dunk 100% way to protect yourself," he says. "Everywhere you turn, you’re going to run into an organization looking for information from you."
However, you can take steps to lower your risk, he says. And there are things you can do to detect identity theft and limit the damage.
Don’t be so quick to give out your number. As Levin said, a lot of organizations and companies will ask for your Social Security number. But that doesn’t mean they all have to have it. You will be required to provide your Social Security number in any situation that requires your identity to be verified (such as an application for credit or a license) or about which the IRS must be notified. Otherwise, be sure to ask whether the agency, business or organization has to have it. Unfortunately, even though many groups -- such as private insurers -- can’t require your Social Security number, they might refuse to do business with you if you don’t provide it. In those cases, ask if you can give just the last four numbers rather than your full Social Security number.
Don’t ever give out your Social Security number or any other personal information to someone you don’t know who initiates contact with you by phone, e-mail or in person. For example, if you receive an e-mail that claims that you must provide personal information to claim a refund from the IRS, it’s a scam. The IRS doesn’t request information from taxpayers by e-mail.
Lock away your Social Security card. Your Social Security card belongs in a fireproof safe in your home, not in your wallet. Why? Because if someone stole your wallet, he’d be able to steal your identity, too. And don’t leave your card or any other personal information sitting out where others can see it. Levin says this is a big problem at universities, where students leave wallets, credit-card statements and other items with personal information that can easily be stolen. See 5 Steps to Protect Your College Student’s ID. Be sure to cross-cut shred any documents with your personal information once you no longer need those documents.
Protect your number from cyber thieves. Even though there’s not much you can do to protect your personal information once you hand it over to another business or organization, you can take steps to protect the data on your computer. Make sure you install antivirus and Internet security software on your computer -- and update it frequently. "If you buy the software and don’t update it, it’s like becoming a member of a gym and not going," Levin says. The McAfee Total Protection software is $59.99 (after a $20 rebate) and the Norton 360 software is $79.99. Levin also says you should frequently change passwords for your online accounts and not use the same passwords for financial accounts and social networks.
Control the damage. Even if you take all these steps, there still is a chance that you will become a victim of identity theft. That’s why it’s imperative to check your accounts daily to catch any transactions you didn’t make. “If you have time to check e-mail and a social networking site, you can find time to check your bank and credit-card accounts,” Levin says. And take advantage of the free credit report you’re entitled to once a year from each of the three credit bureaus -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com to get your reports. Rather than checking them all at once, though, order each one separately to spread out your credit checks throughout the year.
If you notice any problems, act quickly to repair the damage. You can contact the credit bureaus and ask them to put a fraud alert or credit freeze on your accounts. A fraud alert, which is free, requires lenders to make some effort to verify your identity before issuing new credit in your name. A credit (or security) freeze prevents the credit reporting companies from releasing your report without your consent. The credit bureaus charge a fee to initiate a freeze, but you might not have to pay if you're a resident of a state that waives the fee for identity theft victims. See Fraud Alert vs. Credit Freeze.
If your wallet (with your Social Security card or any credit cards inside it) is stolen, report it to the police. With a police report, you can place an extended fraud alert, which lasts seven years, on your credit report, and you'll have documentation that will help you bolster your case if you become a victim of identity theft.
See the Federal Trade Commission’s identity theft page for information about what you can do if your identity has been stolen.

Read more: http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/kiptips/archives/10-riskiest-places-to-give-your-social-security.html#ixzz14Vr3plTX

Data Safety

Your data, especially electronic data, is always at some degree of risk, and of course electronic health records pose a risk of dissemination without your consent.

A concerned person took the opportunity to address the push to have you store and/or backup all your data on line, and here he shares some of his thoughts and tips: Think BEFORE Using ANY Online Backup Service

Since 2006 we've discussed this issue in two dozen different posts, just use our search box and you'll find them easily.

Consider this from the UK press -

D. Mail 26.3.10 "NHS PORTERS & CLEANERS CAN SNOOP ON YOUR RECORDS"
As many as 140,000 non-medical staff, including porters & housekeepers, have access to sensitive NHS patient files, it emerged last night. The lack of privacy protection has been revealed by a Freedom of Info survey. Govt. guidelines say only staff involved in providing & supporting patient care should have access, but Trusts are interpreting the rules so widely that administrators, porters & IT staff are all cleared to potentially delve into a person's medical file. Critics say it will be even easier to gain access when they are stored on the new NHS computer database.

Electronic Records, Data Mining and Your Health

While it is more likely than not an activity most people don't about, data mining can be a lucrative endeavor.

Along with drug data and prescribing activity used by CVS and other large pharmacy chains, web sites like Reeal Age are known to have been selling your data for profit.

’Data mining’ for drug companies goes to courts

By Associated Press | Saturday, June 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Healthcare
MONTPELIER, Vt. — The prescription drugs you take are on the minds of a lot of people: judges on two federal courts, legislators in several states, countless doctors and, at the center, the companies that make money by figuring out who’s prescribing what.

"Data-mining" firms — which gather electronic information on the drugs prescribers order for their patients, then sell that information to pharmaceutical companies — have sued to block laws restricting their activities in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.

At issue is the use by drug company "detailers" — the sales force that deals with doctors and other prescribers and tries to get them to use the company’s products — of the information about doctors’ prescribing habits.

If, for example, a doctor usually uses one company’s antidepressant drug instead of another’s, that can be valuable information for a detailer trying to get the doctor to switch.

In upholding the New Hampshire law, 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston found the result of the activity is often higher drug costs, because the detailer usually is trying to steer the prescriber toward the newest, most expensive, medicines.

The data mining companies are set to appear Tuesday at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to ask a three-judge panel to block Vermont’s law from taking effect July 1.

And the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide by the end of the month whether to hear the data-mining companies’ appeal of the Boston court’s decision on the New Hampshire law. The Boston court has put a separate Maine case on hold until New Hampshire’s is resolved.

The issue has come up in more than 20 state legislatures, advocates on both sides said.

Randy Frankel, vice president for external affairs at IMS Health, said restricting the ability of his and similar companies to collect doctors’ prescribing data could hurt more than just commercial activity.

The data also are used to help law enforcement track when narcotic drug prescriptions spike; they help academic and government researchers follow drug safety and help aim information at doctors prescribing a drug when new side effects or other issues crop up, Frankel said.

"These data have enormous value to the public good," he said.

Maine state Rep. Sharon Treat, D-Hallowell, head of a national group of lawmakers following drug issues, said the data-mining companies’ "bread and butter" is selling the information to drug companies to bolster their marketing efforts.

The more that doctors are urged to use expensive drugs rather than generics, the less money there is to spread around to deliver the most health care to the most people, Treat said. She argued that’s a bad idea when many states are cutting people from public and subsidized health programs in budget-cutting moves.

The data companies, IMS Health Inc. and SDI, argue that restricting the data collection and use violates their and the drug companies’ First Amendment free speech rights to collect and use the information.

But the Boston court rejected the First Amendment argument, saying the issue was less a matter of speech than of conduct. In both that court and the U.S. District Court in Vermont, judges ruled that commercial speech can be regulated without violating the First Amendment, and that what the data-mining companies were doing fell into that category.

Treat concurred that "this isn’t about speech. They’re trying to change behavior" — the behavior of health providers in deciding which kinds of drugs to prescribe.

"That’s what it’s all about," Treat said. "What it’s not about necessarily is good health care."
___

On the Net:National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices: http://tinyurl.com/mxn8ab

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/jobfind/news/healthcare/view.bg?articleid=1180068

At the same time as data mining companies are suing to get access to this data in states where it is prohibited, Big Pharma is making half-baked back room deals with Baucus and others to try to boost appearances of something real happening in DC on Plan D.

Emerging $80B deal would help fund Medicare drugs

So far an unmentionable on either side of the asile is the idea that freedom of choice in this discussion should be considered.

The preventive and curative nature of vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements continue to be ignored and, according to the National Health Federation's support of the efforts of www.CodexFund.com. (More factual information on Codex can be found at www.nocodexgenocide.com)

Consider this from CodexFund's FAQ page -

The 2005 Guidelines are in Direct Conflict with Existing US Law - the Proxmire Amendment of 1976.
In 1976, Congress passed the Proxmire Amendments to stop FDA from establishing standards limiting potency of vitamins and minerals in food supplements or regulating them as drugs based solely on potency. (PL-94-278 Section 501 (a)).

Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, the FDA initiated measures to reclassify vitamins and minerals with a potency of 150% or more of their recommended daily allowance (RDA) be classified as drugs. (Vitamins A and D were to be classified as drugs at 100% of their RDA.) Congress considered these actions as infringements on consumer's freedom of choice and amended the law to forbid the FDA from setting such limits. The law, which became known as the Proxmire Amendment barred the FDA from setting the composition or maximum potency of vitamins, minerals, or combinations thereof, unless they were of a specified type (e.g., toxic, habit-forming, administered by a doctor) or unless they were intended for use by a specified clientele (e.g., by individuals in the treatment of specific diseases or disorders, by children, by pregnant women).

Dave Lindorf writes, "But you cannot achieve the twin goals of reducing health care costs and providing access to health care to 50 million uninsured people, while leaving the profit centers of the current system—doctors, hospitals and the health insurance industry—in charge and in a position to continue to reap profits."