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MEDICAL PRIVACY
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News Release ~
Health Care Policy Group Warns New Law May Allow
Breach of Medical Confidentiality
Use of student social security numbers may lead to further loss of privacy
1999 UPDATE
Citizens for Choice in Health Care (CCHC), a Minnesota health
care policy organization, has recently discovered that a portion
of the K-12 Education bill, which violated federal law (42
U.S.C.Sec. 405) by requiring the collection of student social
security numbers, was not completely dropped from the 1998 bill.
Loss of Privacy in the Schools . .
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Although the bill, now law, no longer mandates collection of
social security numbers, it authorizes the Department of Children,
Families, and Learning to seek a federal waiver&emdash;permission
from the IRS to bypass federal law&emdash;to "obtain access to
federal income tax information"(Chpt. No. 398, Art.6) on families
though social security numbers. Twila Brase, R.N., President of
CCHC, says, "If the waiver is granted, parents may be required to
supply their social security number or the social security numbers
of their children to schools. The schools would then send the
social security numbers to the Minnesota Department of Revenue
which would link them to the income status of parents."
According to Brase, schools want access to social security
numbers because the federal funding formula for schools has
changed. Until recently, schools received federal funds for
at-risk programs on the basis of how many children in each school
were enrolled in AFDC. Now schools receive funds according to the
number of children eligible for the free and reduced lunch
program. Because some families, unwilling to be identified as
poor, do not sign up, federal funding to schools has decreased.
Access to social security numbers would allow schools to receive
federal funding according to aggregate categorization of students
&emdash;perhaps against the wishes of parents.
May Lead to Loss of Medical
Privacy
Citizens for Choice in Health Care has spent four years at the
Capitol dealing with health care, and medical confidentiality
issues and is concerned that the collection of social security
numbers on children will lead to unwarranted linkages with medical
records, most of which now are stored under social security
numbers. In addition, the new federal KidCare program requires
State officials to identify and enroll all children eligible
according to income guidelines. As health plans form
public-private partnerships with schools, CCHC is concerned that
state officials could use social security numbers to facilitate
unwelcome identification of children and families.
Rep. Alice Seagren (R-Bloomington) who sat in the K-12
conference committee, says "Parents don't realize how they're
being used. If they won't volunteer that they are poor, we decide
to get their social security numbers to find out if they are. It's
not acceptable to the government that some people don't want to
volunteer that information. We sacrifice privacy on the alter of
always trying to get more money."
Brase says the Department of Children, Families and Learning
will work with the Minnesota Department of Revenue over the summer
on necessary requirements of the waiver application process.
Spring 1998
Citizens for Choice in Health Care
Published with permission
1999 UPDATE:
On November 9, 1998, the Minnesota Division of
Information Technologies received a letter from the IRS saying in
part,
"Unfortunately, there are no provisions in the Code that
authorize the IRS to disclose return information to States for the
purpose of determining the family income status of children
enrolled in public schools. Therefore, there is no authority for
IRS to disclose such data to you directly without the taxpayer's
consent."
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Citizens' Council on Health Care
1954 University Avenue West, Suite 8, St. Paul, MN 55104
Phone: 651.646.8935 / Fax: 651.646.0100, e-mail
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