<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/2c6b46a5-d5dd-4aa7-8dcb-9373c7c20e43/F12F8889-0A6E-410B-8E82-8BBF0552DCA3/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA031608.01A.Privacy.38b62dd.html" href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA031608.01A.Privacy.38b62dd.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.mysanantonio.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA031608.01A.Privacy.38b62dd.html"> Medical privacy has been protected for years by the most unlikely guardians: insurance companies.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA031608.01A.Privacy.38b62dd.html"><P> But the Texas Legislature has made the state the first in the nation to force insurance companies to pass along sensitive employee health records to employers, a practice permitted under federal law. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA031608.01A.Privacy.38b62dd.html"><P> As of Jan. 1, businesses became entitled to receive a list of their employees and family members — identified by number or some other code, but not by name — whose health bills exceeded $15,000 the previous year. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA031608.01A.Privacy.38b62dd.html"><P> Employers also can obtain the diagnosis, dates of service, amounts paid, prognosis, future costs and treatment plans for each. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA031608.01A.Privacy.38b62dd.html"><P> The detailed information also can be obtained for those who have been precertified for hospital stays of five or more days, according to the bill that sailed through the Texas House and Senate without opposition and was signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry last summer. </P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/F12F8889-0A6E-410B-8E82-8BBF0552DCA3/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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