Full Body Medical Work-ups

[MI-Roger]

As part of my membership benefits in a Professional Organization, I am offered the opportunity each year to have a Full Body Medical Work-up done at a discounted price. I have never chosen to do this.

This year saw our youngest graduate from Medical School, so when the offer arrived in the mail I asked him whether it would be of any benefit. He read it carefully, then told me that since I have no pre-existing symptoms or family history for any of the items the tests are designed to determine, he recommended against having the test performed.

This past weekend we had dinner with friends from college, and my Fraternity Brother's wife, a RN, asked if we had ever had these tests performed. I related the story of our son's recommendation. She related a scary story; that of a friend who did have the tests done.

The test indicated that something might be amiss and recommended further more comprehensive testing be done. The friend followed the advise and was relieved to learn the feared consequences were NOT true, merely one of the expected anomalies of a broad scope high level exam.

Unfortunately, due to the ever broader dispersal of medical information to interested parties, Health Insurance Companies learned of the results of the initial test. He was denied medical insurance by many carriers, and policies offered were much higher priced because the initial test indicated he 'might' have this condition - even though subsequent tests showed this was not the case.

Not sure how close this comes to violating HIPAA but it certainly gives one pause!

 

[athena53]

My dear mother said you should never let them scan your body because they'll find things you never knew were there and that weren't giving you any trouble! I get routine testing recommended at my age but have never had any type of scan other than a mammogram or an X-Ray.

It's not a HIPAA violation- I'm sure your friend signed something allowing the test results to be included in his computerized records. It's meant to make it easier for any provider to get your medical history, rather than having to collect pieces from every doctor you ever saw. I once accidentally omitted a prescription I'd been taking while giving my medical history at an Urgent Care Center to get treated for poison ivy. It was just a mega-dose of Vitamin D that my doc had prescribed and I'd taken the full course. They saw it in my records.

I don't understand why an insurance company would have turned him down, though. Doesn't the ACA require insurers to accept everyone?

Personally, I wouldn't do a full body workup even if it were free, unless I had some concerns about my health.

 

[LOL!]

I had a CT scan the other day related to a kidney stone. The radiologist wrote-up everything he saw in the 3-D X-ray ... except he missed the stone I passed a few days later and it wasn't a small one either.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

While w******, I was covered by an Officers Life Insurance policy. I was tremendously overweight-sleep apnea, pre-diabetic, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc., so premiums for the insurance policy were sky high. Lost 50-60 pounds. All those symptoms went away. Asked to be re-rated. I also asked to be re-rated on my personal term life insurance.

The underwriters had access to all of my history and denied the rewrites. The underwriter's logic goes something like this: How do we know you are not going to gain it all back?

So, back to your situation. Anything bad on your medical history can be used (with your permission) to evaluate you for things other than medical treatment. In my case, it was used for Life Insurance.

I am not for annuities, but it is interesting that annuity companies don't pay you more if you have a bad medical history.

Also, when I was first rated for insurance, should I have argued: "I used to be skinny. How do you know that I am not going to lose all the excess weight?"

 

[friar1610]

They were doing the same sort of tests at an American Legion post I used to belong to with a discount for members. I brought the marketing lit to my a GP, he reviewed it and said not to spend the money.

 

[6miths]

As discussed previously here these are a bad idea. Conflicts of interest are huge and the risk of false positives are manifold. Kudos to your new MD for discouraging you from taking advantage of this 'perk'.

 

[zinger1457]

I am not for annuities, but it is interesting that annuity companies don't pay you more if you have a bad medical history.

Not recommending the product but there are some fixed life annuity products that do offer a higher payment if you can prove before purchasing that you have a medical condition that will likely shorten your life. Since annuity payouts are calculated based on life expectancy they lower your life expectancy based on your medical condition which results is an increase payout.

 

[Car-Guy]

We have a doctor in the family and he's told me more than once, he can always find something wrong than needs to be treated if he looks enough.

Regarding insurance; I predict that someday (actually hope and pray) that the medical insurance industry will be exposed and prosecuted for their grossly unfair business practices.

 

[joeea]

Regarding insurance; I predict that someday (actually hope and pray) that the medical insurance industry will be exposed and prosecuted for their grossly unfair business practices.

Which grossly unfair business practices do you view as worthy of prosecution?

Just remember that "someday" can be a long, long time.

 

[gauss]

As part of my membership benefits in a Professional Organization, I am offered the opportunity each year to have a Full Body Medical Work-up done at a discounted price. .....

Unfortunately, due to the ever broader dispersal of medical information to interested parties, Health Insurance Companies learned of the results of the initial test. He was denied medical insurance by many carriers, and policies offered were much higher priced because the initial test indicated he 'might' have this condition - even though subsequent tests showed this was not the case.

Not sure how close this comes to violating HIPAA but it certainly gives one pause!

I suspect that this was pre-2014 in that the ACA currently prohibits this type of medical underwriting.

-gauss

 

[athena53]

Which grossly unfair business practices do you view as worthy of prosecution?

I believe the MI-Roger was referring to the guy who was turned down by health insurers because of the "possible" conditions reveled by testing. If this was post-ACA, it is illegal since insurers aren't allowed to turn people down for pre-existing conditions, other than Medigap supplement carriers if you're coming from Medicare Advantage.


Another observation on these workups- a VERY good podcast on health from Indiana U's Medical school, which I sorely miss since they discontinued it, pointed out that we don't have long history of use of MRIs, CT scans, etc. That means that they turn up things that haven't been seen before, or have been rarely seen before. When they encounter something unusual, the typical response from the medical profession is, "Well, it might be nothing, but let's do another test".


I have a nephew, born in 1984 during the early days of ultrasounds. Based on the ultrasound, his parents were advised that there was something wrong with the baby's brain and they advised against continuing the pregnancy. Being wealthy (and having waited a long time for this pregnancy) they got a referral to "the best ultrasound guy on the East Coast", in Boston, who concluded that the baby had moved during the ultrasound and this the head appeared blurred. He was right. My nephew eventually got an MBA from Georgetown. Nothing wrong with his brain at all.

 

[Souschef]

My dear mother said you should never let them scan your body because they'll find things you never knew were there and that weren't giving you any trouble!
. .

That is so true! Years ago I had an emergency appendectomy. When they couldn't find my appendix in the usual spot, they did an exploratory. I found out I was missing part of my colon and had a fused horseshoe kidney! All the plumbing was there and working

 

[MissMolly]

I have a nephew, born in 1984 during the early days of ultrasounds. Based on the ultrasound, his parents were advised that there was something wrong with the baby's brain and they advised against continuing the pregnancy.

Similar story here - when my SIL (brother's wife) was pregnant with my niece, they were told the same thing and were encouraged to terminate the pregnancy. They didn't. My niece turned 31 this year and just got her PhD in Medical Physics.

 

[ncbill]

I believe the MI-Roger was referring to the guy who was turned down by health insurers because of the "possible" conditions reveled by testing. If this was post-ACA, it is illegal

I noticed Z3Dreamer referred to life insurance, not health insurance.

Even post-ACA, there's nothing preventing those guys from using your medical records against you.

IIRC, usually they want to see a year at a stable weight before they'll re-rate.

 

[MRG]

I noticed Z3Dreamer referred to life insurance, not health insurance.

Even post-ACA, there's nothing preventing those guys from using your medical records against you.

IIRC, usually they want to see a year at a stable weight before they'll re-rate.

They'll use your medical records and your post-mortem. Said you didn't use tobacco? Hope you told the truth cause they'll find out and not pay out.