Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You -- And It Could Raise Your Rates

[mahatmakanejeeves]

David Fahrenthold Retweeted:

Things your *health insurer* is gathering about you:

-what you post on social media
-whether you’re behind on your bills
-what you order online
-whether you’ve bought plus-size clothes

Link to tweet

HEALTH INSURANCE HUSTLE

Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You — And It Could Raise Your Rates

Without any public scrutiny, insurers and data brokers are predicting your health costs based on data about things like race, marital status, how much TV you watch, whether you pay your bills on time or even buy plus-size clothing.

Marshall Allen July 17, 5 a.m. EDT

This story was co-published with NPR.

To an outsider, the fancy booths at last month’s health insurance industry gathering in San Diego aren’t very compelling. A handful of companies pitching “lifestyle” data and salespeople touting jargony phrases like “social determinants of health.”

But dig deeper and the implications of what they’re selling might give many patients pause: A future in which everything you do — the things you buy, the food you eat, the time you spend watching TV — may help determine how much you pay for health insurance.

With little public scrutiny, the health insurance industry has joined forces with data brokers to vacuum up personal details about hundreds of millions of Americans, including, odds are, many readers of this story. The companies are tracking your race, education level, TV habits, marital status, net worth. They’re collecting what you post on social media, whether you’re behind on your bills, what you order online. Then they feed this information into complicated computer algorithms that spit out predictions about how much your health care could cost them.

Are you a woman who recently changed your name? You could be newly married and have a pricey pregnancy pending. Or maybe you’re stressed and anxious from a recent divorce. That, too, the computer models predict, may run up your medical bills. ... Are you a woman who’s purchased plus-size clothing? You’re considered at risk of depression. Mental health care can be expensive. ... Low-income and a minority? That means, the data brokers say, you are more likely to live in a dilapidated and dangerous neighborhood, increasing your health risks.
....

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

[Delmette2.0]

2. What about those store memberships?

They keep track of what you buy so they can offer you coupons and discounts. I have always wondered what else they track and for whom.

[appalachiablue]

3. K & R. Invasive and disturbing at the least. And discriminatory.