To increase efficiency and lower costs, insurance companies use on-line services to exchange health care information. This regulation prohibits Health plans and Health care providers from releasing private information without patient consent. Disturbingly, the regulation does not directly apply to life insurers or researchers or other groups collecting health information. This means that private medical information could be accessed from an outside source without the patient s approval. I find this extremely troubling.
Outside influences have no business prying into personal e-mails or individual medical records.
While I support efforts to halt fraud, pornography, and terrorism on the Internet, we must not do so at the expense of a constitutionally protected right. If health care providers can lower costs for Americans through the use of internet technology, I support it wholeheartedly. Congress must harnesses this power responsibly before it chips away at cherished principles of privacy. I am confident that the information age will usher in bright new horizons, but am committed to protecting the sanctity of Fourth Amendment rights. Unlawful intrusion into the private affairs of citizens, whether it be by the government or any other organization, has no place in our democracy.