Big Boss becomes Big Brother
by digby
This passage from an article on the mining of employees’ healthcare-related (and shopping-related and credit-related and voting-related) data by big corporations released by The Wall Street Journal last night is really something:
Trying to stem rising health-care costs, some companies, including retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are paying firms like Castlight Healthcare Inc. to collect and crunch employee data to identify, for example, which workers are at risk for diabetes, and target them with personalized messages nudging them toward a doctor or services such as weight-loss programs.
Yeah, the retail chain that has come under fire for its practice of hosting food drives for its own employees is among a group of companies looking to delve into those same people’s health records so they can be told to hit the gym.
The tech is so advanced that it even attempts to predict, based on data from company-affiliated insurers, whether an employee is considering a costly procedure like spinal surgery. Then, it sends that employee options for a second opinion. (“After finding that 30% of employees who got second opinions from top-rated medical centers ended up forgoing spinal surgery, Wal-Mart tapped Castlight to identify and communicate with workers suffering from back pain.”)
Even shopping history can be taken into account. Harry Greenspun, director of Deloitte LLP’s Center for Health Solutions, explained that big data companies can look at whether an individual is spending their money at a bike shop or a Gamestop and make reasonable conclusions about that person’s risks for certain diseases. He then went on to explain the merits of monitoring an employee’s credit scores, which could determine how likely they are to fill their prescriptions and stay healthy. There is also an apparent health-related benefit to keeping tabs on if someone votes in midterm elections.
Who thinks that employers would only use this information to “help” their employees? Exactly. More importantly, it’s none of their damned business.
From mandatory drug testing to the fact that employees can be fired for their political speech outside of work to the notion that your bosses religious beliefs should dictate what health benefits they are obliged to provide, employers already have way too much power over workers’ private lives.
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