Protecting your privacy at all costs

Speaking of healthcare issues, I thought this was pretty ironic…

The other night, I got a phone call. Now granted, on the caller ID, it did list the name of the insurance company that handles our prescriptions. But I know it is possible to fake this with the right equipment. So they called and asked to speak to me, and then said they needed me to tell them what my birthdate was. I asked why – they said it was to protect my privacy – because of HIPAA rules or something, they had to confirm it was me. So, I told them, “let me get this straight, you call ME in the middle of the night and then want me to fork over my personal information and this is to protect my privacy?? Sorry, I don’t think so.”

I told them anything they needed to tell me, they can put in the mail but I’m not going to freely give personal information to someone who randomly calls me in the middle of the night. Somehow I don’t think that’s what they had in mind when they wrote up the HIPAA Law.