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I don't think so...
Dear $health_insurance_provider,
I am in receipt of your letter, sent on your behalf by my employer, urging me to fill out a "health risk assessment" so that you can provide me with an "action plan for [my] health". It appears that you are proposing to make recommendations for my medications, lifestyle, diet, and, for all I know, hypothetical affinity for skydiving, all on the basis of a questionnaire.
You are, of course, aware that as a condition for acquiring your insurance services, I designated a primary-care physician who is responsible for overseeing my care and who is, you know, an actual doctor. If you care to open up your file on me, you will see that I do in fact avail myself of his services on the conventional, recommended schedule. In other words, I already have a source of sound health advice, and I do not need to augment it with a source of less-sound advice offerred absent any actual examination of me. I understand that some of your customers might not be availing themselves of their doctors' services, but perhaps your effort would be better spent encouraging them to change that instead of offering medical opinions via email.
While you do, of course, influence my doctor (through your decisions about what you will and will not cover), I think my doctor is more likely than you are to prioritize my health over your costs. So if it's all the same to you, I plan to stick with my current plan for continued good health.
I am in receipt of your letter, sent on your behalf by my employer, urging me to fill out a "health risk assessment" so that you can provide me with an "action plan for [my] health". It appears that you are proposing to make recommendations for my medications, lifestyle, diet, and, for all I know, hypothetical affinity for skydiving, all on the basis of a questionnaire.
You are, of course, aware that as a condition for acquiring your insurance services, I designated a primary-care physician who is responsible for overseeing my care and who is, you know, an actual doctor. If you care to open up your file on me, you will see that I do in fact avail myself of his services on the conventional, recommended schedule. In other words, I already have a source of sound health advice, and I do not need to augment it with a source of less-sound advice offerred absent any actual examination of me. I understand that some of your customers might not be availing themselves of their doctors' services, but perhaps your effort would be better spent encouraging them to change that instead of offering medical opinions via email.
While you do, of course, influence my doctor (through your decisions about what you will and will not cover), I think my doctor is more likely than you are to prioritize my health over your costs. So if it's all the same to you, I plan to stick with my current plan for continued good health.
no subject
no subject
Actually, I'm pretty sure that insurance companies do NOT have actual copies of your medical records. I think they only get medical records if they request it and with your consent. What they get is a claim form with the ICD-9 code.
When I fell down a flight of stairs in November 2004, I received (several months later) a request for information from the insurance company. Obviously no one could be that stupid to have such a fall on their own property. I must have been somewhere else and employed by someone when it happened. Who can they sue to recover costs? Worse, it defaulted to the assumption that there must be someone to sue. The problem with that was that I had to provide proof that it wasn't an accident for which someone else might have legal liability, or they were going to hold me accountable for all fees that resulted from the fall.