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Australian government centralizing all our health data (whether we like it or not!!)

SaharaSenior Contributor17 Aug 2018, 4:49 pm AEST

Australian government centralizing all our health data (whether we like it or not!!)

Hello everyone, I've been away from Sane for a while due to my studies and overseas travel. Today, purely by accident, I discovered that the government is going to put all our heath care data in to one big file, so as doctors can easily access it. It will be kept online somewhere secure.

I think this means that every doctor's visit we have ever had will now be listed and numbered. Everything! It will make it easier for doctors to treat people whose memory is failing.... the patient now doesn't have to remember ever single medication that they have ever been prescribed...

It could be good.

However, what worries me is that any doctor at any time could access this information... so does that then mean that if you went for a job at a large company, they would just ask their staff doctor to look into your medical records so as to see if you had any problems that might impact your job???

Because I have a psych history, I'm obviously going to come off second best against a job applicant who has no significant problems.... wouldn't this make it very easy for them to discriminate against someone like me?

I'd like to know what everyone else thinks. This new medical data bank is going to happen whether we want it to or not... you have to go online to opt out of it - you need your medicare number and ID to do it. Thanks.

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In response to: Australian government centralizing all our health data (whether we like it or not!!)

utopiaSenior Contributor26 Aug 2018, 10:09 pm AEST

Re: Australian government centralizing all our health data (whether we like it or not!!)

@Sahara. I personally opted out of this scheme for myself and my son.

Why? For a number of reasons.

* All the info on our health history, is already out there. But it's in multiple areas. Thus if someone wanted to access my information - they will need to put a lot of effort into it.

* I don't trust the security of storing all this information in one area. It's too easy for leaks to occur.

* I don't want some government employee to be able to see how many UTI's I've had, or how many operations, and I definitely don't want a stranger to have access to my pregnancy, birth, reproductive issues, hormone issues etc

* I worry about changing Government policies in the future. Currently the law says our information is protected. But those laws can change overnight, as we have seen already this year.

* My biggest concern is for my child. What happens 20 years from now. His employer or insurance company or medicare - may not cover him due to my history and my parents history.

I would hate for my son to be impacted further by my MI diagnosis.

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