AP reports: Florida lawmakers advanced a proposal Thursday that would bar life insurers from using information from commercially available genetic tests to deny policies or set premiums based on markers that might be discovered through DNA home kits. The effort comes amid the booming popularity of heavily marketed genetic testing and the rising concerns from…
Category: Healthcare
German Researchers Accessed Service Members’ Sensitive Medical Data—and One Lawmaker Wants Answers
Brandi Vincent reports: A Democratic lawmaker wants answers and actions taken to address unsecured servers at three military medical facilities that he said are putting service members’ personal information at risk. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., penned a letter to the Defense Health Agency Thursday pressing it to eliminate the exposure of sensitive medical data belonging to military…
NZ: Home loan insurer’s request for blood test and years of medical records ‘unreasonable’
Brittney DeGuara reports: When Peter Graczer’s home loan insurance expired in December, 2019, he began the renewal process. He disclosed a new medication he was on – PrEP, a preventive medication used to reduce the risk of HIV infection – but came up against a road block. His insurer, Kiwi Insurance Life and Living, requested a look at his medical history…
Health Data Privacy: Why Eroding Public Trust Harms Medical Research
Scott Kahn, PhD, writes: The importance of data security and data privacy policies have recently come under scrutiny due to revelations around Google’s Project Nightingale. The initiative with Ascension, the nation’s largest nonprofit health system, granted Google access to medical records of more than 50 million individuals in 21 states and may hinder the trajectory of…