!!!!!

[lapsedmodernist]

"We can't get health insurance because we're taking medications that were prescribed by our doctors. I don't think that's right."

That prescription you just picked up at the drugstore could hurt your chances of getting health insurance.

An untold number of people have been rejected for medical coverage for a reason they never could have guessed: Insurance companies are using huge, commercially available prescription databases to screen out applicants based on their drug purchases...

Most consumers and even many insurance agents are unaware that Humana, UnitedHealth Group , Aetna (AET), Blue Cross plans, and other insurance giants have ready access to applicants' prescription histories. These online reports, available in seconds from a pair of little-known intermediary companies at a cost of only about $15 per search, typically include voluminous information going back five years on dosage, refills, and possible medical conditions. The reports also provide a numerical score predicting what a person may cost an insurer in the future...</i

Comments

[her-whispers.livejournal.com]

those databases are also utilized by pharmaceutical companies. it gives them better understanding of who is taking their drug and what doctors are prescribing it.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

... The problem isn't with the fact that databases exist, it is, as usual, with the insurance companies.

also the way that the pharmaceutical companies use these databases wouldn't win awards for ethics, either.

[her-whispers.livejournal.com]

i feel that the database should not exist at all. the only reason to use it that i could support would be for pharmacies to be able to verify the drugs people are taking. having worked in a pharmacy for seven years, i saw the danger of customers who visit multiple doctors and pharmacies. unfortunately many people don't offer up information on drugs they are taking so unless they picked them up at the same pharmacy, there is no way of knowing about any clashes between prescriptions. a database like this one would be GREAT to deal with that problem, but I can't see any other ethical use.

but then, i'm very concerned about the fact that there is virtually no privacy left in this world of technology.