The battle of the bulge is about to become public knowledge for Unlike Sam. BMI (body mass index), which is supposedly an obesity indicator, is now required to be part of our health records, in addition to height and weight. And ALL of our health records are required to be electronic by 2014. Our records will be available for access by the national health exchanges that are mandated by Obamacare. Health professionals who don't meet this reporting requirement will face reduced Medicare and Medicaid payments.
The BMI reporting requirement is part of the stimulus bill that was passed. It is not part of Obamacare. The problem, of course is that BMI is very arbitrary. What's obese for one persons height, weight and body structure may not be obese for someone else.
Big Brother is coming for us, folks. And once our health record are electronically in the hands of the government nothing will be private. Ever heard of identity theft? There's no way the feds can protect these records.
BMI (Body Mass Index) Is a measure of the fat content of a persons body. When a health care professional calculates a person's BMI their height and weight are both taken into account. This makes BMI a very accurate way to measure a person's level of obesity or non-obesity. It is not arbitrary like you stated or a static way of finding levels of obesity but very dynamic and fit to every individual. Also having BMI in record would be a very good thing to have especially with obesity in America continuing to be an ever growing epidemic and the second largest preventable cause of death following behind smoking.
ReplyDeleteOnce our medical records are in the hands of the government they will remain private like they are now. I can tell you our medical records are not the place an identity thieve would look to find valuable information especially since our records, if not stored at the hospitals on their servers, would be stored on Government servers that i can guarantee would be very highly encrypted and difficult to access from the outside. So Yes. The "feds" can protect our records.
Okay, sorry fightorflight1, but if you believe that our health care records are safe because they "are not the place an identity thieve would look to find valuable information", then I propose that you are part of the problem. By problem, I mean individual Americans who have lost any sense of what it means to be free. I don't want any entity, much less the feds, having any access to my personal health information. That is between me and my doctor and it is nobody's business. And yes, even my BMI. If I am obese, again it is nobody's business but mine and my doctor's.
ReplyDelete*sigh* I don't even know what to say to people who think like you. The only thing I know is that by being willing to give up your individual freedoms piece by piece, you are inevitably taking my freedoms down with you, and that is never okay with me.
It's not just that an identity thieve most likely wouldn't look there its also that the database files would be encrypted. Encrypted files need a special program and one or more passwords to be unlocked and accessible. It is not an easy process what-so-ever and any identity thieve would have easier, better ways to steal someone's ID than by trying to hack and decrypt their way into somebodies medical records. Also its not like the "feds" are going to be sitting there reading through peoples medical records. It would still be just between your doctor and you it would just be easier to access and would make pulling up a medical record much faster. Your record would also be accessible in any hospital nationwide so if you get injured or sick on a vacation or even a business trip your records would be instantaneously available making waiting times much shorter. The pros of this action far outweigh the cons. What are you talking about "taking your freedom"? The government having your medical record on-hand and available to hospitals isn't taking a freedom away from you its just helping the hospital system in the United States run a little more efficiently. I agree that the government taking our freedoms and telling us how to live is wrong in every way. This falls in a whole different category though.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your first comment, I am aware that BMI is a measurement of body fat versus weight/height. My point was that the BMI standards by which BMI is measured can be arbitrary. Not all health facilities, health clubs, sports facilities, medical practioners will be using the same equipment to do the measuring. Therefore, there could be differences in the readings - no standards. And the standards that are already established are set by a government person. What makes anyone think that one fat/height/weight measurement (BMI) fits all for a given height and weight? What about body build, bone mass, where the weight is carried, etc.
ReplyDeleteYour comments about security are misguided. I for one do not trust anyone in the government to keep their nose out of millions of American's medical records once they are available. Multiple thousands of mid to low level government employees will have access to not only our health records, but SS numbers, insurance numbers, possible credit/debit card numbers if you ever use a card to pay a medical bill, driver's licenses, and ever detail about our health.
You think it can be made secure? Well, here is a sampling of the companies who have had their systems "hacked" in the past: Hannaford Brothers (huge international firm had 4.2 million credit/debit cards stolen), Sweetbay (another huge international firm), Yahoo, Citigroup, Bank of America, Department of Defense, NASA, FBI database, Digital Equipment, National Defense Warning System, numerous phone networks, numerous corporate systems, Cingular, Microsoft, New York Times. These are just the tip of the iceberg in the hacking world. If Microsoft can be hacked, then there is no safe government computer. To check out this information go to www.marvquin.com or do a google search. There are lots more examples. And why am I paranoid? Because right now my credit is on a "watch" because a very large corporation that I deal with was hacked - a company who guaranteed the information was secure - yeah, sure. And I will never accept that our medical records will be "safe" in the hands of Uncle Sam, no matter what encryption is used. It's just another way to control every aspect of our lives.
One last thing, Fightorflight, today it was on the news that the government has been storing thousands of full body scan photos from airport scanners. And this is AFTER the government assured the public no scans would be kept or stored. Do you remember when they started scanning? Oh, no, no photos of scans or scans will be stored. But not true. The scans are "detailed naked images." It is nothing more than a federal peep show data base available to who knows how many airport employees, federal employees. Who can trust a government like ours? I'd say no one should!
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