For adults under age 26, the Affordable Care Act offers continued insurance on their parents’ health plans. But that creates privacy concerns for some who would prefer their parents not know what medical care they receive, which is hard to keep confidential when parents receive bills and explanations of benefits. Several states have responded to this concern by increasing privacy options for young adults, reports Kaiser Health News.
Confidentiality has long been a concern, with special protections provided under HIPAA for those for whom exposure of the type of medical care sought could create dangers. The law did not define endangerment, however, or explain how to honor confidentiality requests, Rebecca Gudeman, senior attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, told KHN.
There “was an added impetus to concerns about the confidentiality of insurance information with the dramatic increase in the number of young adults staying on their parents’ plan until age 26” under the ACA, Abigail English, director of the advocacy group Center for Adolescent Health and the Law told the site.
California, Colorado, Maryland, Oregon and Washington have moved to enhance HIPAA’s confidentiality protections.
California, for example, mandates that insurers honor a request to not share information with an insurance policyholder if the member is receiving services such as reproductive health or drug treatment or says that doing so would cause harm.
The added privacy may help more young people feel confident about using reproductive health services provided by their insurance, notes KHN.
The additional protections may not fully meet the needs of either the young adults or their parents. EOBs still include provider and pharmacy information that may reveal treatment information. And, for policyholders, masked EOBs may not provide enough information to ensure that their accounts are not being used fraudulently, notes the article.
- read the KHN article