(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The insurance companies are not just large consumers of health information from doctors and treatment institutions. The wide authorizations the companies obtain when a policyholder signs the declaration of consent when taking out insurance also applies to the collection of information from the social security offices.
- We can not say no to the insurance companies if the customer has given their consent. As the provisions on confidentiality are today, the companies can roughly obtain the information from the social security offices that they want, as long as there is consent from the information to which the case applies, says case officer Christina Aar at the National Insurance Administration.
Increasing degree
23, has been consulted, and the National Insurance Administration is one of several bodies that have issued a hearing statement.
The Røsæg Committee has virtually no influence on the relationship between the National Insurance Administration and the insurance industry, as the National Insurance Agency initially notes. This is despite the fact that insurance companies are increasingly requesting the provision of health information from the social security offices.
In this connection, the National Insurance Agency's consultation statement refers to a sample conducted in a municipality with around 35.000 inhabitants. Over two months, 60 requests were received from various insurance companies to the municipality's social security office to provide health information.
Blanco Mandate
As Ny Tid wrote last week, the Norwegian Medical Association now demands that there be a legal ban on handing over unedited patient records to the insurance companies.
- We are not in favor of a law ban. But the National Insurance Service needs a clear order from the insurance companies that harmonizes with the consent given by the customer. There must therefore be a precise, clear and well-specified power of attorney, both when taking out insurance and when settling. We also call for a better description of criteria for when entire case files can be obtained from the social security offices and what prerequisites must then be met, Aar explains.
The National Insurance Administration writes in its consultation statement that the powers of attorney often bear the mark of being a "blank power of attorney".
- In practice, it is not always as easy to assess where the line goes in relation to what lies in the concept of "necessary and relevant information", points out case officer Aar.
Salary for the effort
Unlike the doctors, the social security agencies do not get paid for the work they do for the insurance companies.
In its consultation statement, the National Insurance Institute found it timely to question whether a public agency should perform such extensive work to enable National Insurance members to document their claims against private actors in this way, and indicate that they have noticed that the Norwegian Medical Association has negotiated make payment for this extradition work.
- The doctors get 170 and 510 kroner, respectively, to give away unedited and edited patient records, comments Aar.
Cleanup needed
Olav Gunnar Ballo (SV) in the Storting's Social Committee is very critical in providing insurance information to the insurance companies.
- A clean-up is needed in this area. In my opinion, the Røsæg committee has done a poor job. Instead of tightening the companies' ability to obtain information, they are in favor of liberalization, he says, and refers, among other things, to the fact that the majority of the committee is in favor of lifting the law banning the disclosure of genetic information to insurance companies.
- SV also supports the Norwegian Medical Association's demand for a legal ban on handing out patient records to the companies. It is lazy work from some doctors, when medical records are sent to the insurance industry, Ballo adds.
