Good morning!

I am digging that this country is getting riled up…inspired that we the people, the 99 percenters, are getting verbal, going viral, and taking it to the streets…and that the protesting is peaceful…unlike the police officers.

Occupy Wall Street: Video Allegedly Shows NYPD Officer Striking Protesters With Baton (Photos)

Just before 8 p.m. Wednesday, reportedly at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street, a New York Police Department officer appeared to turn on a throng of activists with the Occupy Wall Street movement, hitting them with a baton. A video posted hours later to YouTube shows the officer wielding the baton with two hands — like a baseball bat — as he swings at and strikes the demonstrators. At one point, a woman can be heard shrieking in the background.

The white-shirt cop, most likely a supervisor, had stood next to at least a half-dozen other officers, including other department brass. The video shows the officer appearing to nudge a spectator out of the way, back up and raise his baton. He then gets off three swings before the crowd appears to surge toward him — digital cameras and video recorders held high.

This may be the first of many videos documenting clashes between the police and Occupy Wall Street. At the end of the video a few in the crowd chant: “The whole world is watching! The whole world is watching!” (UPDATE: New video emerges. May be the most complete document of last night’s incident. See second video below.)

It is unclear from the video what provoked the officer’s actions, but HuffPost’s Matt Sledge, who was at the scene, reports the baton swinging took place after a handful of people had been arrested for attempting to cross a police barricade.

When reached for comment, a New York Police Department spokesman who refused to be identified said he had heard about the video but had not seen it and therefore could not comment.

Throughout the night, activists had reported via Twitter that the police had resorted to using pepper spray and had made some arrests. A spokesperson for Occupy Wall Street later reported some 20 arrests in total.

Fox 5, the local affiliate in New York, reported that police officers had struck the station’s journalists with batons and doused them with pepper spray:

Officers swatted protesters with batons and sprayed them with mace, according to video from the scene. Fox 5 photographer Roy Isen was hit in the eyes by mace, and Fox 5 reporter Dick Brennan was hit by what he believes was an officer’s baton. Both were all right and continued to cover the protests and arrests.

In another video posted to YouTube, an officer says: “My little nightstick’s gonna get a workout tonight.”

***********

Readers: These are no fly-by-night protests – these are happening all over the country…it is main street going as main stream as one can get. Here’s Maddow with her report of “Occupy Wall Street”:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What are your thoughts…your experiences? I will extend the invitation that I gave to ZL: Send me your photos. I would be happy to post them.

It’s Friday….start flapping your lips. Blog me.

As always….Peace out. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2011

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

I guess I’m into numbers lately.  Here’s a graph showing stats that I feel needs to be highlighted.

*********

Readers: Why the democrats don’t get out this information is so stupid. This is a powerful graph that is so illuminating. Robert once said that Reagan spent more money than all of the other presidents combined.

Helloo…the ones that claim they are “fiscally conservative”, are the ones who are getting us in debt. So…who’s the cap and spend party?

Before I sign off, I just want to give a nod to Steve Jobs. No doubt he was a genius. Jobs has made a profound difference in the lives of many.

On the one hand, he gave us incredible technology that allows us to communicate in so many ways…technology that allows us to play, makes our work easier, and gives us a platform to interact with the world around us. I love my Mac and with my recent upset of being Mac-less for a few weeks, I can honestly say that I am pretty lost without it. For all of those reasons and more,  I am grateful that Jobs continued to pursue and master his passion.

But on the other hand, in my opinion, greed got the best of him. He had so much influence…so much reach globally. I wish that he could’ve been more socially responsible early on in his game. He could’ve had a profound affect on the way women are treated in this world had he been more sensitive to the atrocities that women endure daily, especially with respect to Congo, where he and other tech companies sourced minerals for their machines.

It wasn’t until this past February…250 million iphones later, over 10 years of illicit trade of minerals, 5.4 million dead, and over 200,000 women and girls raped and sexually assaulted since 2006 in Congo, that Jobs began to even take a positive step and map conflict minerals in the massive production of his products. It was a first step, but one that I believe was inspired by public pressure and not necessarily from human care and kindness.

Unfortunately for most of Jobs career, Jobs cared more about creating the latest new tech machine…the latest iPhone and iPad etc. Instead of caring about those that were dying daily, in my opinion, Jobs funded the atrocities in support of these precious minerals, caring more about money than precious human life.

One can say Jobs was a great inventor. One can say that he was a great innovator. One can say he was many great things, but I would never call him a great man.

Thoughts? Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2011

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Robert, Emily: Here’s some other dirt on Facebook. I don’t even know why I have a facebook connection anymore. I am much better connecting Face to Face. I am rarely on Facebook, but I do like to tweet what I post here. And you can be sure I will be tweeting this.

To All The Facebook Fans:  We all like the idea of connecting to our friends and family no matter where they are in the world, but did you know that although Facebook bans hate speech and violence, they maintain pages that encourage rape and violence towards women?  Why is it that women’s issues and safety are still not honored and taken seriously? Thankfully there are organizations such as Change.org and people such as you, my readers, that do give a damn about women…people that can do something.

Here’s a letter from Facebook:

Facebook says that hate speech and incitements to violence are banned and will be removed from their site. So why are they maintaining a page called “Riding Your Girlfriend Softly Cause You Don’t Want to Wake Her Up”? And another page about “throwing bricks at sluts” that includes a photo gallery of portraits asking “Bang or Brick”?

There has even been an organized effort to use Facebook’s own reporting system to flag these and other pages that encourage rape and violence against women so they’ll be taken down. But Facebook hasn’t done a thing.

Now, Change.org member John Raines is going straight to the top. He started a petition on Change.org telling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to take down these pages and take a stronger stand against violence against women.

Will you sign John’s petition to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg? Sign on, and tell Facebook to remove pages promoting rape and violence against women now.

When 1 in 3 American women will be sexually abused and/or assaulted in her lifetime, pages like these — and the reactions they elicit — are downright scary. Tens of thousands of people have “liked” these pages. Some people even use them as platforms to share rape fantasies and receive explicit tactics for how to carry them out.

John has seen the devastating impact of sexual violence and rape firsthand, on his own family. That’s why he created this petition on Change.org to get Facebook to enforce its existing policies and to make it clear that content promoting rape and violence against women violates Facebook’s Terms of Service and won’t be tolerated.

Please sign John’s petition. Tell Facebook to stop providing a platform to promote rape and violence against women.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Shelby and the Change.org team

P.S. The Troy Davis petition that we emailed you about earlier this week is being delivered to the Parole Board today with more than 230,000 signatures from Change.org members, in advance of Troy’s final hearing on Monday. We’ll keep you updated.

Readers: Facebook has a huge following. If you have a Facebook page and do only one good thing today, make your Facebook status the Change.org petition for others to see, and sign the petition. Okay that’s two things, but I know you can do it. Thank you.

Mindy:  Some info will resonate with you; some not.  As with all of the information here, especially having to do with health, please pay attention to my disclaimer in the right hand column.

Aaron: Nice to see you make a comment after 3+ years. Thanks for being a loyal reader. I HOPE you’ll share more of your thoughts, and not wait so long this next time. :)

Anna From Guam: I HOPE you are well. Congratulations to your Miss Guam World, Siera Robertson!  I like the new family law too. Thanks for posting.

Julie: I HOPE that all of us give and do our best when it comes to Obama winning in 2012. We all need to show up. And I don’t mean just at the voting booths.

Social Butterfly:  Umm…nice…very nice. Thanks for posting.

Lydia: Why didn’t you say hello? I would love to have met you. Remember what Ellie said about being safe? I wish you had taken the risk, and left your comfort zone. Not that saying hello to me is a big risk. :) Oh well…next time huh?

Howie: I guess, like humans, some aliens just do stupid things, and don’t want to follow procedure when visiting. Will the lesson be learned? Who knows.

Ellen: That one was cute.

Anonymous: That’s a great quote to end my write and begin my day. Thank you for posting.

Peace & Love…towards women…”Live it, Give it”

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2011

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

How hypocritical. The republicans are calling taxing the rich “class warfare” when they have been doing this kind of “class warfare” all along to the middle class, and let me remind you, while the very rich and corporations get cushy tax breaks.  Doug and I talked about this last night and I read this article, this morning. It seems we weren’t the only ones up on this news. 

Paul Ryan, Herman Cain Push For Tax Increases On Middle Class

WASHINGTON — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Sunday that House Republicans would oppose President Barack Obama’s payroll tax cuts for both employers and employees, arguing that the policy had already failed to provide a sufficient boost to the economy. “It hasn’t worked,” Ryan said, suggesting the current temporary tax cut should be allowed to expire, which will amount to a 50 percent tax hike on workers making less than $106,000 per year.

He also said he opposes the president’s proposal to require millionaires to pay the same tax rate as the middle class, known as the Buffett plan. “Class warfare might make for good politics, but it makes for rotten economics,” Ryan said.

As chairman of the House Budget Committee and the author of a long-term plan that radically alters Medicare and slashes tax rates for the wealthy as well as social spending, Ryan serves as something of an economic spokesman for House Republicans.

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, who followed Ryan on “Fox News Sunday,” seconded his opposition to the tax on millionaires as well as the payroll tax cut extensions. “It’s too little, too late,” said Cain.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), appearing later on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” said he too would oppose taxing millionaires at a higher rate, citing Obama’s own comments from 2010, when the president argued that taxes shouldn’t be raised during rough economic times. “I think what he said then still applies,” McConnell said, insisting that small businesses would be hurt by such a tax plan.

As for the namesake of the Buffett plan, McConnell said that if billionaire investor Warren Buffett feels like he’s not paying his fair share, “he should send us a check.”

“If Warren Buffett would like to give up some of his benefits, we’d be happy to talk about that,” McConnell said, suggesting his benefits be means-tested.

Ryan, while backing a payroll tax hike, nevertheless said that tax hikes cannot be part of the deficit-cutting proposal that the super committee comes up with. As part of his explanation, Ryan made it clear that he sees no difference between raising taxes proactively and allowing tax breaks to expire. “You already have a $1.5 trillion tax increase coming in 2013,” he said, referring to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts that were extended by President Obama for two years. Ryan’s reference to the expiration as an “increase” gives greater weight to his willingness to let tax cuts for the middle class expire.

Because of the looming Bush tax cut expiration, said Ryan, the super committee should eschew tax hikes. “Why on earth would we go with that, especially when the problem is spending?” he said.

“You’re basically saying there’s going to be no bargain, no compromise,” host Chris Wallace pointed out.

“Clearly, Democrats could work with us” and get $1.5 trillion in spending cuts with no additional revenue, Ryan said. “That shouldn’t be that tough.”

As for the budgetary woes outside Washington, Ryan said, “We just don’t think we should be bailing out state governments.” He added, “That’s the constitutional responsibility of state governments, not federal governments.”

Former President Bill Clinton, appearing on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” backed Obama’s tax hike on millionaires, but suggested that the singular focus should be on job creation, with tax increases on the wealthy coming once the economy improves. “I don’t have any objection to talking about it now,” said Clinton. “Whether it’s good politics or not, it’s an honorable thing to do.”

Clinton urged passage of the payroll tax cut extension and the creation of an infrastructure bank to fund investments. He also hit at the major drag on the economy. “I don’t believe America can return to the full employment days of the ’90s until we can clear this bank debt from the mortgage crisis,” he said.

Human Events:. Please… “No hope, no cash”. How quickly the republicans forget that it was their party that got us into this mess…it was their party that raised the deficit after Clinton cleared it, and we had a booming economy.  Only stupid people would buy that line of crap. But then, there are a lot of stupid people.  I wish you would just leave my blog alone. Not many of your peeps hang here. And if they do, they are a changin’. But like Patricia said,  ”…this kind of exposure permits all of us to see the world in its true light.” How true that is….keep a bloggin’.

Wendy: I think Herman and  Robert made some good points with respect to Obama. And I hear your frustration. But let’s not cut off your nose to spite your face. It is the fact that voters gave the house back to the republicans last November, and now they’re in the driver’s seat. So if Obama won’t get your support, who will you be giving it to? Do you really want to vote for a republican president over Obama? I’m sorry but that is so illogical. This is the kind of thing that Robert is talking about when he says that “Democrats have a long history of not giving their presidents a second term.” Let’s break history and ensure Obama a second term. If a republican gets in, you can kiss our country goodbye.

And on that note, I’ll throw out a kiss and say goodbye as well….

Peace Out

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2011

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Surprise! Guess Who’s Viewing Your “Confidential” Medical Records?

If you believe that your medical and personal information should be kept in strict privacy, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. Your medical information is not actually private — you sell it without realizing it.

If you look at your office bill or EOB (explanation of benefits), you’ll see coded numbers (CPT and ICD9). Those numbers tell your insurance company or Medicare all of the information about your visit and treatment. They not only get the bill with all of its coding, they have the right to look through your chart and any other charts in any other doctor’s office, any time.

According to the website Kevin MD:

“Can your loss of privacy hurt you? … I think privacy is one of the most valuable assets you can have. I believe in the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship and that what you tell me should be held in the strictest confidence … Now that you know the medical world’s dirty secret, the secret that has been right in front of your face all these years, it’s time to answer the question, ‘What’s your privacy worth to you?’”

Dr. Mercola’s Comments: 

Most people recoil at the thought of having their personal medical records displayed for anyone to see, or worse, sold for marketing purposes. The privacy of medical records (or lack thereof) raises a number of issues with potentially unsavory ramifications. For example, if an employer, insurance company or malicious person gets their hands on this sensitive information, it could lead to much more than simple embarrassment. Jobs could be lost, insurance claims denied and entire reputations ruined, depending on your circumstances.

So, How Private are Your Medical Records?

It depends on whom you ask, but there are definitely plenty of loopholes that can put your privacy at risk. It’s important to realize that the medical industry is a business, and personal medical records can be very valuable for the data they contain. Also, once you’re “in the loop” it can be very difficult to get out.

There are companies that regularly purchase this type of information to profile doctor’s prescription habits and improve drug sales, for example. Now, as far as I understand, identifying information is not supposed to be included, but I’ve heard of people receiving direct advertising from pharmaceutical- and medical companies that match their particular health problem, so I’m not entirely sure that there aren’t loopholes there too.

As Dr. Stewart Segal says in the featured blog post, “you sell your privacy for the cost of your care.” Granted, insurance companies need to know what services were rendered in order to issue a payment, but many disagree with the practice of rooting through past and unrelated medical records, which seems to be routinely done to try to deny claims based on “pre-existing conditions.”

Furthermore, your medical records may be available online for just about anyone to see, without your explicit knowledge or consent. Back in 2008, CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen was surprised to discover her own health records online. Every diagnosis, treatment, and doctor’s appointment she’d had in the past five years was on the Internet — all she needed to get them was a phone call to her insurance company and a few pieces of information such as Social Security number, date of birth and address.

“There it was in black, white, and hypertext blue. My annual mammograms; the visits to the podiatrist for the splinter in my foot; the kind of birth control I use — it was all on my health insurance company’s Web site. And that’s not all: The prescriptions drugs I use were listed on the Web site where I get my prescription drug insurance.

I had no idea this was all on the World Wide Web,” she writes.

Online health records can let you, to some extent, double-check your doctor. And in a world where physicians are busy and medical errors are epidemic, that could be important. But online record keeping can also have significant drawbacks, and reduced privacy is definitely one of them.

HIPAA Myths

Writing for About.com, Trisha Torrey helps bust 10 most common myths about the privacy protection of medical records provided by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA. For example, the claim that medical information cannot be legally sold or used for marketing under HIPAA is untrue. Under certain circumstances your medical information can, and is, sold and used for marketing purposes. One of the primary loopholes here is that the rules are confusing, even to providers.

“That means these rights may get violated, whether that is intentional or unintentional,” Torrey writes.

“An example of when information can be shared for marketing purposes is when a hospital uses its patient list to inform you of a new service it provides, a new doctor who has joined the staff, or a fund raising program. An example of when information cannot be shared without an additional authorization from you is when an insurer who has obtained your information from one of your providers, then uses or sells your information to sell you additional insurance, or another product related to services you have already received. You can see how these examples are confusing, and how the various entities that do have access to your records might take advantage of that confusion. “

HIPAA Laws Do Not Apply to All Storage of Medical Information

It’s also important to understand that HIPAA laws do not cover privacy and security for all medical records. The laws only apply to entities specifically bound by them, such as healthcare providers, healthcare facilities, and sometimes insurers.

But there are plenty of other entities that may have your medical information that are not bound or regulated by HIPAA, such as online medical data storage services, and in those cases, no real privacy protection exists, other than what the company itself proclaims to have in place.

The bottom line?

Read the fine print with a magnifying glass! For the time being, online services to store your health information are entirely voluntary, and you have to sign up to use them. Just beware that these types of services can make you vulnerable to hackers, insurance companies, and yes, advertisers.

However, your insurance company, hospital or doctor’s office may already be storing your health information online in their own databases, as Cohen discovered. It’s definitely worth a few minutes of your time to contact your health providers and insurance company to find out just what personal information is available online. Some will only include basic test results, for instance, while omitting more personal information like substance abuse, mental health, sexually transmitted diseases, or reproductive health. Either way, if you don’t want it online, request to have it removed.

After all, your privacy is under attack in many ways nowadays, by telemarketers, phone companies, advertisers, and technology like RFID tags, so it may be in your best interest to keep your health information under wraps as much as possible.

Sloppy Security Breaches May Be More Common than You Think

In another recent blog post, Dr. Pamela Wible, MD writes:

“On February 24, 2011, Massachusetts General Hospital  was fined $1 million dollars by the federal government when an employee inadvertently left a stack of papers on the subway. These documents contained the protected health information of 192 patients, many with HIV/AIDS.

Where did these medical records go? Nobody knows. “

And according to an article in the American Medical News, published in March:

“[P]ractices and hospitals are more likely to experience a breach because of an employee losing a thumb drive, mobile device or stack of paper files than because they were targeted for a malicious hacking.”

This could easily qualify as the stuff that nightmares are made of… However, medical practices and hospitals do have a strong incentive to clamp down on such sloppiness, as they may face fines of up to $1.5 million for every patient data breach according to the Health Information Technology for Clinical Health Act of 2009.

What Can You Do to Protect Your Privacy?

When it comes to your health information, staying out of the system is the best way to ensure your privacy. But is it the ideal solution for everyone? Probably not. Just beware that if you run to the doctor for every bump, scratch and rash, all of that information can end up in a number of different locations that you may or may not be aware of or have control over.

If you’re concerned about your medical privacy, call your doctor and insurance company and find out where and how your information is stored and shared, and ask to have it removed if you don’t approve. For general privacy protection, I like protectonlineprivacy.com. They do a marvelous job of providing resources to teach you how to rapidly and inexpensively remove your personal details from all the major databases.

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Blog me. 

Robin: :) This is definitely the place to get your “licks in”, as you can see.

I HOPE everyone has a great Monday!

xoxo

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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