Reaction: Big Brother watching too much

Josh Vorhees made me laugh for a moment as I read his blog about privacy in the online world. While reading his reasons to fear how much of our private information is being accessed by foreign parties, he mentioned how “Big Brother” could ever get too much of our information and use it against us, such as his example of health insurance providers having access to our credit card statements and taking into account how much we drink or smoke to determine premiums. I laughed at the thought of what health insurances would think if they saw what I bought, or maybe I laughed because my health insurance premiums are going to be a ridiculous high amount next year and I’d like to see them try to get higher. But what if United HealthCare or Aetna decided that they’d take into account that I used to buy cigarettes more often than food, or that my bar tabs used to run a little on the high side? What if they saw that I bought a surfboard and could continuously hurt myself trying to learn? I want to scream out, “That’s none of your damn business what I do!” But it is their business. It’s their business to insure me for my health problems or accidents. Maybe in a way, they should know. Shouldn’t I pay more for insurance that a girl who’s never smoked a day in her life and doesn’t do much of anything that would require visits to emergency rooms? But then where would it stop? Would they then look at every aspect of my life? Would they ask how clumsy I am on insurance applications (9 out of 10, 10 being so clumsy it’s a miracle that I get out of bed without injuring myself every morning)? Would they make me paying ungodly amounts of money every month because my grandfather died of heart disease and my aunt has breast cancer? These diseases run in my family and I could eventually cost my health insurance more money than I’ve ever given them.

So, yeah, after laughing at the thought of insurances looking at my credit card statements, my mind ran with the idea and now I’m scared that my health insurance will find out I like to swim, because my drowning will cost them money they don’t want to pay or that I’m Band-Aid’s biggest customer. Big Brother scares me.