I just had to complete a Health Questionaire.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

Once it was completed, I emailed it to my husbands business partner's office. I had to answer some very personal questions regarding my health and it made me extremely uncomfortable. My health issues should be only between me and my doctor.

I was wondering what happens to employees (at other companies) who check the box for alcoholism, drug abuse, pregnancy, anxiety, depression, bipolar, cancer, AIDS etc.

Although none of the above mentioned disorders apply to me, I can't help but be concerned that by checking the boxes, the employees future employment might be adversely affected.

The American healthcare system is beyond awful! If a person loses their job due to their health problems or past, what are they supposed to do...crawl under a hedge and die? Some people wait years before they can be approved for Social Security Disability Insurance and some never get approved. How are these people be expected to survive?

America should be ashamed of itself. I get so :mad: when I hear the ignorant saying this is the best county in the world. It could have been...

This is what America needs;

http://www.nhs.uk/Pages/HomePage.aspx

[Newest Reality]

1. In the process of culling

the herd, there is no expectation for the survival of "useless eaters" just because they are human beings.

The term "human resources" that replaced personnel, says something. The current paradigm depletes resources for profit. Hence, human beings are considered to be a resource for profit and there is no assurance, implied or stated, that their well-being or survival is a concern in the process.

We live under that implication and, either it is changed/eliminated quickly, or people will continue to scratch their heads or become incensed by the outcome.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

7. I agree..it is culling the herd.

I find it awful. But I have been told here on DU, emotions are wrong. We are not supposed to let our hearts and conscience tell us what is bad.

[MineralMan]

15. Nothing wrong with emotions. As long as you also use your

mind to rationally figure stuff out, too, your heart and conscience can be very valuable. However, sometimes, answering some general health questions for a health insurance company makes rational sense. I wish we didn't have private health care or insurance at all, but we do. Trust me, if the government runs health care, you'll be answering the same kinds of questions.

Certainly when you go to the health care facility, you'll answer those questions, as well. And you should answer them accurately and honestly, if you expect the people there to be able to intelligently help you with your health needs. Yes, they're personal questions. Health care people often get very, very personal.

If your emotions override your intellect, you're going to have trouble out there. That I can guarantee.

[MineralMan]

2. What was the reason for the questionaire?

If it had to do with health or life insurance, then the questions are all legitimate and legal. Both of those require health information to make decisions on coverage, cost, etc. If it's for something else, they may not be legitimate.

You are correct, though. We need government-run single-payer, single pool health care.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

5. Health insurance.

It was for health insurance. I know the questions were legal and all that. It reminds me of how we are forced to hold still while a total stranger feels around our genitals and breast, in public...all legal.

[MineralMan]

14. Ah. So providing basic health information to a health insurance

company is equivalent to a TSA patdown search? I understand, now.

[Mosby]

18. have you ever had to fill out a questionaire?

I never have been required to fill out anything like that for health ins. and I'm in my late 40s. The whole thing seems weird, my medical history is my drs business and no one elses.

[MineralMan]

19. Sure. When I first applied for health insurance, I filled out just

such a questionaire. Of course, I'm self-employed, so I have to pay for the entire cost, and there's no group I'm in that automatically qualifies me. Not everyone's experience is the same as yours. You may have noticed that the person who wrote this has a husband that works for a self-employed person. Same deal.

If your insurance comes from your employer, even in part, you're part of a group, and your employment is all the qualification you need. Don't get too used to it, though. Employer health insurance plans are a vanishing breed.

[Mosby]

20. I get it now, thanks. nt

[sinkingfeeling]

3. HIPAA. What was the form for? Life or health insurance? Why did it go to your husband's business

partner?

[Boudica the Lyoness]

8. It went to

my husbands business partner because he is the one that takes care of that part of the business. It was health insurance.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Then it's covered by HIPAA.

[Cleita]

4. I agree with you. Certain health issues are private and

only to be discussed with your doctor who may need to know in order to give you the best treatment for whatever ails you. I would not check any of those boxes or give them any information other than the very basic, like your height and age even if they were applicable. Screw them. Let them find out for themselves.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

11. I gave them just the basic answers.

I remember in the movie 'Sicko' the insurance company could refuse to pay for surgery, after the fact, if they discovered that you didn't fill out the questionaire completely. I seem to remember a woman didn't mention a long ago yeast infection or ingrown hair or something, and they refused to cover her operation after she had it.

[HockeyMom]

6. Questionnaire from self-insured employer

1. Do you or your SPOUSE (Non-employee) plan to become pregnant in the next year? My answer to that. Yes, but our Surrogate in China says she is very healthy.

2. Do you use sunscreen every day and what do you use? Yes, I use a roof and 4 walls.

3. Do you go to a gym to workout, how often, what is the name of it? Yes, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It is called MY JOB. I push wheelchairs and lift the children all day long for my workouts.

4. Are you involved in a same sex relationship? My cat likes to sleep with me.

5. How often do you eat fast food and what did you have last? Big Mac Meal 6 months ago. Since I weigh 100 lbs, the principal told me to have another burger on her. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish mine, let alone hers.

There were some more really outrageous ones, but you get the picture. They sent it back to me and I refused to change my answers. NOYDB.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

9. Bloody hell

and I thought the one I just filled out was bad. I love your answers though. :)

[Missy Vixen]

12. Interestingly enough, it would be illegal to ask some of those questions in a job interview

We don't have kids. We had no intention of having kids. When I was interviewing for jobs, though, it was continually amusing to listen to the verbal gymnastics of employers/HR people doing everything but ask me if we had children or were intending on having them, i.e., "We don't give any kind of day care assistance here."

"Oh, okay."

"We expect our employees to handle their family responsibilities on their own time."

"Thanks for letting me know."

bla, bla, bla, bla.

It's hard to believe the insurance company has any right to ask one's sexual orientation, either. I don't think it would fly in a job interview, that's for sure.

[patrice]

13. Add that to the list that shows how much sense Universal Single Payer would make. nt

[Islandlife]

16. Most forms help doctors limit their liabilit

Too many lawsuits delay and escalate the cost of medical services.

I've seen a dozen specialists in the past two months due to my unfortunate health condition. At every stop, I complete a questionnaire requesting the same info. Although my medical records follow me to each specialist, they need my signature on their files to limit their liabilty. The man-hours tneeded to process all this paper work seems a waste of time to me.

The fear of being sued encourages doctors to practice defensively. Extra procedures, forms and cost are the result.

It's frustrating when you need treatment but won't receive it untill everyone feel safe enough to help.

[liberalhistorian]

21. Too bad the doctor who killed my best friend of thirty years

and caused her to suffer horribly for nearly a year before she finally succumbed felt "safe enough" to do her job and do a damn fucking horrible job of it, too. I had NO problem with that doctor and her supervisor being put on the hot seat in court and NO problem with the settlement reached, either, considering they pretty much murdered my friend and she was only forty-something. A good friend lost her husband in his early forties to a heart attack that would easily have been prevented had the dipshit ER doctor not sent him home AFTER GETTING the blood test and EKG results that directly showed that he'd had a heart attack. He had another one the next day that killed him. The doctor who reviewed the medical records simply couldn't believe that he'd been sent home and said he should have been immediately admitted and treated. I also had NO problem with the resulting lawsuit.

My own now very former gynecologist let a nasty case of endometriosis go for over three years, despite my ever-increasing visits and worsening symptoms and pleas for her to do the diagnostic test, and refused to even do any tests, because she "didn't think" that that was what it was. Despite my fitting every single symptom and having worsening issues. By the time she relented and did the tests, it was so bad that I had to have a complete hysterectomy. THAT cost a lot more money and inconvenience that just doing the damned test in the beginning and treating it before it worsened. But the doctor and her office wouldn't have gotten much money for the test or treatment from my insurance company, and THAT was more important.

You DO know that medical malpractice actually exists and that it costs tens of thousands of lives, and grievous harm to tens of thousands of more lives, every single year? Those lives and getting justice for them are far more important than any inconvenience to doctors and their offices.

And nice spouting of RW talking points right out of the gate. Welcome to DU, enjoy your (probably briefer than you'd like) stay here.

[progressoid]

17. Best health care in the WORLD!!

Gollum Beck told me so.