Category: Health Insurance

Claims about US medical codes for unvaccinated are misleading

Social media posts claim the US government is using codes from doctors to track people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19. This is misleading; under federal law, individuals must consent to the release of their medical records — and the codes are part of an international system that makes anonymized health data available for research.

“ICD-10 is our new label so we can be tracked?” asks a February 5, 2023 Instagram post sharing a TikTok video.

The narrator in the clip says: “Any time you go to the doctor — you have a physical, you have your blood drawn — they ask you, ‘Are you vaccinated?’ And if you say no, you become an ICD-10 so you can be tracked.”

The claim has also circulated on Instagram, where a February 6 post shares a video of Fox News host Laura Ingraham in a segment with a chyron that says:

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House reduce health insurance cost school employees | Georgian

Local superintendents have been complaining about increased health insurance bills for employees who don’t hold teaching certificates.

ATLANTA — House budget writers in Georgia want to shift $100 million into the state employee health plan to reduce the sting of health insurance premium increases for public school districts.

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday included that change as it voted to approve House Bill 18. It amends the state’s budget, which ends June 30. House members are likely to vote on the amended budget Thursday, which includes $2.4 billion in additional spending after Gov. . Brian Kemp bumped up projected revenue.

The Republican governor’s $1 billion plan to give property tax rebates to homeowners would cost $100 million less than Kemp’s previously estimated, said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Matt Hatchett. The committee wants to shift that $100 million to stretch out to three years a 67% increase in health insurance

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