Health Insurance Alert - ACTION ITEM!!!!

Do you have a son or daughter who is off at college in another state? Imagine getting a call from your daughter's roommate indicating that she has just been rushed to the hospital. Your first thought is to grab the first available flight so you can get to the hospital to be at your child's bedside.

Even though your daughter is over the age of 18, she is still covered on your insurance, because she is a full time college student. So, you are not worried about the insurance coverage. You then rush into the hospital to inquire as to your child's status. The hospital clerk politely informs you that she cannot confirm your child's status unless you produce a "Health Care Surrogate" form. This is an authorization form that grants you access to the health care information relating to your child who is actually a legal adult.

You are totally confused. She is a dependent covered on YOUR insurance policy. You are her parents, and besides, she asked you to come to the hospital. After all, she is only a college student.

The health care worker is complying with the provisions of the federally mandated Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act(HIPAA), instituted in 1996. While most people know this law makes health insurance available to many more people, it also contains a number of privacy provisions which are are unknown to the average person until an emergency such as this arises.

Normally, patients are asked a series of privacy related questions at the time they are admitted to the hospital. However, if there is an emergency or the patient is unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate, then the health care professionals on the scene make a judgment call as to whether any information may be released to third parties.

In this age of endless lawsuits, many institutions err on the side of caution and will not release ANY information without the proper signed authorization forms. While the law was enacted to ensure a greater degree of privacy at the federal level, many states have added their own laws on top of HIPAA thereby adding to the layers. Add in a few additional hospital regulations, and no one can say anything about anyone. Many of the laws are confusing at best.

In many cases, the hospitals are only trying to comply with the law and avoid steep fines and penalties. Suddenly, the law as it is being enforced looks nothing like the intent of the original law.

So, what can you do? Here are some practical steps:

1) Have your child complete a living will. This is a document that would indicate that a person does not want to go on artificial life support.

2) Obtain a durable power of attorney. This document gives another person the power to make financial decisions on behalf of the incapacitated person.

3) Obtain a health care proxy or health care surrogate form so that someone can make health care related decisions on behalf of the person.

4) Make sure all of the papers are signed and notarized. Then scan the information into a PDF file and e-mail it to yourself such that you can access it anywhere in the world.

Hopefully, these suggestions, if followed, will allow you to spend your energy focusing on any immediate emergency rather than filling out endless paperwork. This is probably one of those cases that if you actually take the time to do the paperwork, you will never need it.