Vaccine opponents, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., are using the occasion to resurrect the false claim that the HIPAA federal privacy law protects individuals from being asked about their vaccination status.
On May 18, several GOP members refused to wear masks on the House floor in defiance of House rules on mask-wearing, including Greene. When asked whether she was vaccinated, Greene told reporters that asking about her vaccine status was a HIPAA violation. ....
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, is a law that prevents health care professionals from sharing private health information without the patient's permission.
But experts agree the interpretation of HIPAA cited by Greene and others online is inaccurate. The law has no bearing on who can ask or answer questions about health status outside a health care setting, they say.....
Alan Meisel, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Pittsburgh, told USA TODAY at the time that HIPAA’s rules apply only to sharing information between "covered entities." The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services describes covered entities as “health plans, health care clearinghouses, and those health care providers that conduct certain health care transactions electronically.”
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