How did HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) start and whats the purpose of it anyway?

Question

Still don't get this because I find no one follows it (even professionals) and me as well. Even when they say they take it very seriously.

Answer 1

Wikipedia has a great article on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Insu...

By the way, firms that don't follow it, that get audited by...oh...say... an insurance commissioner on a witch hunt?  They can go out of business very suddenly now-a-days.

Answer 2

HIPAA was set up to protect our privacy, specifically our personal health information.  It was designed to address issues like discrimination, insurance rates, and embarrassment that resulted when a person's medical history was disclosed.

It's an important law... too bad more people don't respect it.