At Issue
Medical privacy of Lawton support staff jeopardized under controversial state law
Last fall, legislators ignored warnings by MEA that the medical privacy of public school employees would be put at risk with the passage of P.A. 106. And now that warning has come true in this Van Buren County school district.
Medical privacy for public school employees in at least one district has been jeopardized following passage of a controversial new state law, a troubling twist in the continuing controversy over Public Act 106.
Scores of districts have sought bids from prospective health insurers since P.A. 106 took effect, as the law requires. However, MEA learned of a case that confirms concerns about medical privacy raised last fall when the Legislature debated the proposal, then known as Senate Bill 418.
Some employees in Van Buren County’s Lawton school district were ordered earlier this year to provide medical history and other private information about themselves, their spouses and dependents. The information went to an independent health insurance agent hired by the district; the agent presumably planned to use the information to provide a bid for health insurance, even though the employees’ current contract is in effect until 2009.
“Nobody should have to disclose this kind of information to their employer,” said Ed Sarpolus, who heads MEA’s Government Affairs Department. “Anyone who values medical privacy should be concerned.”
The Lawton incident shows how districts are pressuring employees to disclose private medical data in an effort to cut costs and seize control of employee benefit plans.
Among other things, members of the Lawton Educational Support Personnel Association were asked if they or their dependents had been treated during the past 10 years for such ailments as cancer, HIV or AIDS, or allergies. Employees were also asked whether they or their dependents suffered from anxiety, depression or eating disorders, and to list the medications they had been prescribed over the previous year. The employees’ names were tied to the answers.
As provided, the information could be used to discriminate against workers, even if their medical history doesn’t interfere with their job performance, said Art Przybylowicz, MEA’s chief legal counsel.
“The information could even be misused by districts to limit or eliminate coverage for certain conditions,” Sarpolus said, adding that districts that don’t provide adequate health insurance might discourage employees from seeking necessary care or force them to seek employment elsewhere.
MEA warned the Legislature that medical privacy for thousands of school employees was at risk when P.A. 106 was debated.
MEA lawyers and other staff will defend the medical privacy of all members, Przybylowicz said.