Majorie Taylor Greene is n’t really cognize for being reserved . The far - rightfield Georgia rep has n’t been afraid to dauntlessly support Nancy Pelosi ’s theoreticalexecution , pick California ’s wildfires onJewish Space Lasers , or ask whether a school shooting was actually an intricately stagedinside job . No topic is tooracist , toohomophobic , ortoo tabooto be remark on — except for one : whether she ’s been vaccinated .
That question “ is a violation of my HIPAA rights , ” she told a newsman during a Tuesday press league hold in the wake of her latestTwitter suspension .
harmonise to Twitter , Greene was rack up with the 12 - hour moratorium after she used the chopine to propagatemisinformationsurrounding COVID-19 vaccinum , which she most late referred to as part of some nebulous “ human experiment . ” Sure , most would agree withoverwhelmingevidencethat suggests get jabbed is an easy way to battle future infections , but Greene is n’t most people . She is n’t going to allow the Biden administrationbullyher oldest ( andmost at - risk of infection ) constituents into getting vaccinated , and she is n’t going to let some Mainstream Media electric receptacle bully her into disclosing her vax condition — especially not when she had a federal secrecy police force on her side .
Photo: Alex Wong (Getty Images)
“ You see with HIPAA right , we do n’t have to reveal our aesculapian record and that also involves our vaccine record , ” she said , with the confidence of someone who ’s invoked that lineatleastadozentimes when peach to the press . She also could n’t be more wrong .
Question : Have you yourself been vaccinated?Greene : Your first interrogative is a encroachment of my HIPAA rightspic.twitter.com/JuHDovV2mC
— Acyn ( @Acyn)July 20 , 2021
“ HIPAA was never a general health privacy rule , ” say Kirk Nahra , a seclusion and cybersecurity attorney base out of Washington DC . Last calendar month , Nahra publish ablog postaddressed to the sudden moving ridge of post horse and pundit invoking the law in all the haywire ways — and not even spell it correctly .
Despite kinda sounding like the word “ hippo , ” when tell aloud , the acronym has always been HIPAA ( with one “ phosphorus , ” two “ a ’s ” ) , which stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act . The original design for the jurisprudence , per Nahra , was portability : the “ ability to take your wellness policy with you when you switched job , ” he explain . Congress would n’t get around to tacking on a curing of seclusion monetary standard until years after with the rollout of thePrivacy Rulein 2003 — but even then , these concealment statute were always meant to apply to a specific circle of figures handling a specific sort of data for a specific stage set of purposes . Period .
“ HIPAA was never a universal health privacy normal , ” Nahra went on . “ It in the main mold how doctors , infirmary , and health insurer can use and divulge patient information . If you are n’t one of those or working on behalf of one of those the linguistic rule believably have zero shock on you . ”
As you might expect from a169 - pageslab of privacy law that ’s beenrevised and remoldedseemingly every time a new president stepsinto office , Greene is n’t the only one who ’s work HIPAA into a stenography for all things health and privacy . As far back as 2013 , some congress membersexpressedconcerns that doctors across the body politic were broadly misconstruing what kind of data they were allowed to share without patient consent . They were proper ; since then , we ’ve see dozens of casing of so - call off “ cover entities , ” likedoctorsandhealth insurersbeing sued after they disclosed more about patient than the law tolerate . These are the sorts of party subject to HIPAA ’s seclusion standard , along with so - called medical “ clearinghouses ” that physicians use when send e - title to insurance toter .
In other words , you ’re free to involve any elected official anything about their inoculation status — and they ’re free to answer however they need . That ’s not “ dishonour HIPAA , ” that ’s just “ get a conversation . ”
You ’re also allowed to ( courteously ! ) demand your friends , neighbors , potential assemblage , or whoever else about their vax condition , and they ’re costless to ( politely!)decline . In a exchangeable mineral vein , bars , gyms , dining car — or any concern that is n’t principally staffed by people handling some sort of e - record book regarding your health — are free to ask the same . There are some nuances depending on where you live ; there are more than a dozen states that have putsome sort of restrictionon postulate vaccination cogent evidence in general , while Texas , Montana , and Floridaspecifically barprivate businesses from asking for that info .
Similar rules apply to the private business you might work for . The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission put outits own noticelast December detailing the sort of dubiousness employers can ask their employees without falling afoul of HIPAA . In inadequate , your knob is devoid to take if you ’ve test positive for COVID-19 or your vaccination status — and they ’re alsofree to storethat information internally , as long as it ’s kept in a confidential location that ’s disjoined from other personnel files . And you ’re free todecline .
Things get a bit crafty if that employer get going probe into certain specific , like why you might not have gravel immunised , or why you might not be wearing a mask in the office — but not because of HIPAA . In this cause , it opens the door for an employer to violate theAmericans with Disabilities Actsince those questions launch the threshold to potential discrimination against worker who might not have gotten the poking for medical or religious reasons . Under the ADA , the most an employer isallowedto do is “ bar an employee from physical presence in the work . ”
“ Think of HIPAA as who , not what , ” Nahra say . “ If your employer has health info because you need aesculapian leave , it ’s not [ under ] HIPAA . But the doctor who diagnose you for the same matter had to observe [ that law ] . ”
In other words , you ca n’t expect Majorie Taylor Greene ’s doctor for her full medical history . But you ’re free to ask her any enquiry you want .
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