Is it illegal to post my health insurance information online such as acct # and group ID etc? And by online I mean facebook and such. I uh, need to make sure a bunch of people can access it.

I think HIPAA laws only apply to health professionals, doctors, hospitals, et al. What you provide to the social media is your business.
C. T.

Why would you want a bunch of people to access your private information? This seems like a very poor idea.

Hemingstein,
My first thoughts were like yours but then it dawned on me, I live alone, I'm physically disabled (and old), so it is important that my sons know certain things and to be honest, what can someone do with your health insurance account and group numbers? And even though I don't use FB, I know that you can limit access to certain people, family, friends. Yes it can be hacked but as I asked before, what do they do with health account numbers?
C. T.

If you're going to commit medical fraud I wouldn't ask about it online in a forum

It may not be illegal with the state, but it also may be against the agreements in your health-policy…I don't have any real answers/data/what-have-you, but I can't imagine that the Insurance companies would enjoy you sharing that information all over the kingdom.

Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule (http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/index.html)

Ill post a pic of what Im talking about here in a minute.

Fromttown

There is a difference between illegal and ill-advised.

But me thinks the OP is aware of this.

Is it illegal to post my health insurance information online such as acct # and group ID etc? And by online I mean facebook and such. I uh, need to make sure a bunch of people can access it.

What bunch of people are you talking about?

Well it would stand to reason people on Facebook such as friends and family.

TTown...Why do you "Want" a bunch of people to see your Health Insurance card?

Well it would stand to reason people on Facebook such as friends and family.

I can't think of any legitimate reason for friends and family to need that information other than fraudulent use of it. Perhaps you can educate us on a non fraudulent need for friends and family to have access to it. I've had health insurance for 40 years and in all that time the only people ever needing access to my information like that were health care providers.

What if I'm incapacitated and I can't get the info to said providers? Am I a criminal now? I posted it here and no one seems to have a problem with it so my friends and family might need to be able to need it is all I'm saying.

Make copies of your Insurance Card and give to your family members and/or close friend/confidant.

Well they are going to need your Social Security # too so you might as well share that with us.

What if I'm incapacitated and I can't get the info to said providers? Am I a criminal now? I posted it here and no one seems to have a problem with it so my friends and family might need to be able to need it is all I'm saying.

I have that information in my wallet. Even if I were incapacitated, it wouldn't be difficult for anyone to find.

The first place first responders and hospital staff check is your wallet. They also have USB drives you can wear on your body where you can enter your medical information. I would do that long before posting it online for some chowder head to rack up bills on your insurance.

What a bunch of worrywarts

FromTtown

Welcome to the board Patrick

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5

What a bunch of worrywarts

FromTtown

You ask opinions then mock them?
Welcome indeed.

Maybe BCBS will sue me for compromising the integrity of my account?

Are you looking for trouble? I really don't understand what the hell is going on here.

Can a mod delete that attachment? My employer isn't too happy about that being up there I guess.

FromTtown

How do we even know the image posted is this TTown person? For all we know he is spreading images of accounts belonging to other people. This whole thing just doesn't pass the smell test.

Coming from 10 years in medical billing, i'll pass this on.....HIPAA is to protect your privacy. You're free to share whatever information you want, however you want, with whomever you want. It's in place to keep anyone that's providing you with care, from telling anyone else about it.....that's the Accountability part (first A). While that "A" gets the most attention, it's only part of the legislation. HIPAA-HITECH has even more regulation to ensure that the data is protected.

As someone else said, it doesn't make it advisable. Advertising that information is not smart. Why? Because it could be used by someone else to commit insurance fraud. If anyone besides the person covered by the plan makes use of the plan for any reason, it's fraud. What you would be doing, is putting private information out in a public way. What you would need to examine is if your agreement with your provider has any clause about releasing that information. You could potentially violate the agreement and they could potentially nullify your coverage. And you might find it difficult to then get new coverage because of that (or would be charged a higher premium for it because they would say they need to cover their liability for fraud potential on your account based on your previous behavior). While someone else might be the one committing the fraud, you could be held liable for posting it publically and making it freely available for others to use. In a court setting it could be said that you were an accomplice to the fraud...which has GRAVE penalties!

So best practice, keep it in your wallet.

So ObamaCare says I must have coverage but the insurance company can still deny it even though they are not supposed to.

I feel like you have no idea what you're doing, talking about or any sense of how things in the world work.

Either that or I didn't know they gave health insurance to the troll species

I'm going to call BCBS and see what they have to say. Cat's out of the bag at this point

What a bunch of worrywarts

FromTtown

Your choice... When I see somebody about to do something that could do great harm to themselves I am going to speak up.

Ex: Careful, that stove is hot.

I am going to give you a heads up and maybe another option to remedy the problem or perform the task. If you choose to go forth and touch the hot stove, that's your prerogative. There are many people who spend years cleaning up their credit reports thanks to people that just happen to get a hold of all the right personal information. If you want those kind of problems by all means don't let me stop you.

So ObamaCare says I must have coverage but the insurance company can still deny it even though they are not supposed to.

I posted my health insurance card on Facebook.
Thanks Obama

Is it illegal to post my health insurance information online such as acct # and group ID etc? And by online I mean facebook and such. I uh, need to make sure a bunch of people can access it.

Perhaps a lovely tattoo?

Is this real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality.

Open your eyes.

7939

Look up to the skies and see

Your choice... When I see somebody about to do something that could do great harm to themselves I am going to speak up.

Ex: Careful, that stove is hot.

I am going to give you a heads up and maybe another option to remedy the problem or perform the task. If you choose to go forth and touch the hot stove, that's your prerogative. There are many people who spend years cleaning up their credit reports thanks to people that just happen to get a hold of all the right personal information. If you want those kind of problems by all means don't let me stop you.

I would agree that it's not necessarily the best choice to call BCBS and point it out to them. Although I would venture to say that the call center folks won't know the answer to this question anyway and would have to forward it on for research.

But I do feel like I should point out that it has nothing to do with your credit. Insurance doesn't work that way, and actually you're MORE protected with insurance because ANY use from anyone besides yourself if fraud, and that's a federal offense. The question is, whether you become liable for knowingly and freely posting the information that made it possible....and that's where the fine print with the BCBS agreement comes in. It's actually very easy for the insurance company to just say it's fraud and not pay anything on those claims. That cost is then pushed down to the provider that rendered the services. They actually become responsible for part of the litigation for not confirming the identity of the person before accepting the insurance. That provider could be swept up in the lawsuit (rightfully so).

As we all said, the best thing to do here....not post it. But it sounds as though its too late.

Way to take the thread off-topic. :tongue:

How is that off topic? It's all part and parcel of the same base question.

I'm just a poor boy

I need no sympathy

Because I'm easy come, easy go

little high -M

little low

Anyway the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.

Mamaaaa...

Wtf ?

Galileo, Galileo, Figaro....