circumventing law - business as usual rant

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

Corporate America's wanton disregard of the law is business as usual. In theory, insurance companies are forbidden from sharing confidential information with employers.

In the article, “Confidentiality: The Risks Of Using Mental Health Insurance,” Mentor Research Institute’s Oregon Counseling, a consumer protection non-profit agency, describes the line between employers and health care companies as “increasingly blurred.”

http://www.oregoncounseling.org/Consumer/RisksConfidentiality.htm

“Your employer and managed health care company increasingly work together to cut costs. As insurance companies increasingly centralize their records, they provide access to multiple sources that are not policed by any external agency and are essentially on their good behavior to not misuse their access to your records.

The Medical Information Bureau, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts, maintains a nationwide database of health care claims and makes information available to interested parties. Insurers have been known to withhold life insurance from people with certain diagnoses and to withhold health and disability insurance from people who have submitted mental health claims to another insurer…”

After being laid-off in December 2007, I started working as a financial temp earning $21 per hour. But when that assignment ended, not a single one of three agencies found work for me. I got so desperate that I requested jobs that paid as little as $12 per hour.

I’ve suspected that I’ve been blackballed, and I’ve suspected that employment agencies have their ways of finding out about my history of mental illness. The article continues...

“Other interested parties may access this data as part of legal proceedings, investigations, evaluations or actions in which you are required to sign a release. Supervisors, human resource managers, employee assistance counselors, recruitment specialists and employment screening investigators who work for employers can in some cases obtain access to these records and are expected to voluntarily police themselves and ignore information that would discriminate against you.

Employers can find out more about your health care history in other ways. In some cases you can be compelled by a prospective employer to sign a release authorizing them or their agent to have access to your mental health records. They can ask you if you have any condition or problem and imply that they merely want to be sure you receive protection that you are entitled to under the law. For example, the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 provides some federal protection for citizens who are disabled by psychological or physical problems. However the ADA applies primarily to large employers, is difficult to enforce and many psychological problems are not covered. Employers are looking for information that they feel is essential to select the best person for a job. At best, people may be protected somewhat from the most obvious and gross acts of discrimination.”

Today, Speaker Pelosi unveiled ground breaking health care legislation that eliminates the pre-existing condition clause. That’s the good news. However, I’m not convinced that the new legislation will change business as usual, as employers will continue to rely on the same means they’ve always used to deprive those of us with mental illness employment opportunities.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

1. What am I to do?

What am I to do, file for long-term disability? Though I am willing and able to work, and, more importantly, was a productive permanent employee for more than 6 years, I’ve been without permanent employment since January 2008. And as long as insurance is employer based, I suspect that that won’t change.

As long as health insurance is employer based, I’m a liability. My records would reveal my chronic illness, two hospitalizations, and the amount of money the insurance company shills out each month for medication. There should be protection, and, in theory there is. But you cannot convince me that employers and insurance companies are not in cahoots with one another. I’ve gone 22 months without permanent employment. In 2007, I earned just under $45,000 in salary and bonus combined. Today, I am in trade school working under the delusion that a company will pay me $12 per hour and pick up the tab for my health insurance. It’s worth noting, I was forced to borrow $18,000 to pay for school.

Nothing changes if nothing changes. An amendment allowing states to create state-level single-payer healthcare has been stripped out of the House healthcare bill, after having passed in committee back in July by a vote of 27 to 19. This amendment must be restored, for as long as health insurance is employer based, those willing and able to work with medical histories similar to mine will likely remain unemployed.