maintaining privacy (HSA, medical, plan, deductible)

[Middletwin]

Someone I know who is not me....

has a high deductible health insurance plan from their employer combined with a health savings account (HSA). Both employee and employer contribute to the HSA. The employer contributes to the HSA when the employee voluntarily earns points which represent reward money.

A well person exam goes through insurance and the employee earns points automatically when the insurance is processed. To keep health information private, would it make sense for employee to find another doc or health department and of course pay out of pocket? Experiences or Ideas, anyone?

(Also, the points are not really voluntary if it all happens automatically but that's a mute discussion we are grateful for insurance in the first place.)

[lenora]

Definitely pay out of pocket and perhaps see a different physician and/or use different labs, etc. In addition, depending on the state, one may need to opt out of automatically sharing medical information via an electronic database.

Pharmacies are a bit trickier. I'm not sure how one can limit the sharing of that information. Maybe purchase drugs from a Canadian pharmacy?

[Middletwin]

Maintaining privacy for meds is a good point. I think they now obtain their scripts in this manner.