Buzz
Health insurance companies are becoming increasingly interested in your personal data, as highlighted by a recent ProPublica investigation. They may be using this information to raise premiums or discriminate against certain groups, but since insurers are tight-lipped about how they use the data, it's difficult to know for sure.
Yes, This Is Legal
Although insurers use this data to make assumptions about your health, it isn't categorized as health information like your medical records. A law known as HIPAA allows you some control over who can access your medical records.
And while insurance companies and data brokers may calculate health scores based on the data they collect, you don't have the legal right to view or correct these scores, unlike your rights with credit reports.
Insurers can’t currently use this data to raise rates for everyone—yet. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to offer the same pricing to all individuals within a given area. They can adjust the rates based on your age, family size, and smoking habits, but nothing beyond that. They can’t charge women more (as was common pre-ACA), nor can they adjust your rate based on your health condition.
However, there are several ways insurers could still use this data to discriminate. For instance, short-term health insurance plans are not bound by the same rules, so insurers might adjust rates based on perceived health risks. If future policy changes weaken the ACA, this could affect many more people.
One insurer told ProPublica that they use this data to “supplement its claims and clinical information.” This raises questions, as some companies might use data scraped from social media to deny claims, as Tracy Clayton describes happening to her when she posted beach pictures while receiving treatment for mental health issues.
But It’s Still a Problem
Even without directly increasing rates for individuals, insurance companies can still use this data in ways that make life harder for some people or further discriminate against those already disadvantaged. For example, people living in poorer neighborhoods may be sicker on average, and insurers might choose not to offer certain plans in those areas—or offer worse coverage options.
Insurers may also use personal data for marketing purposes, and this is legal. If they identify hobbies that are more common among healthy individuals or those with lower healthcare costs, they could target their advertising specifically to those groups.
Currently, there’s no foolproof way to prevent your data from falling into the hands of insurers or data brokers, nor can you easily see all the information they have about you. Perhaps the most concerning part is that companies aren’t even sure if all their data is accurate or if their assumptions hold true. As an analyst at IBM Watson Health told ProPublica, the data they collect should be seen as “a data insight. But it’s not necessarily a fact.”
