HIPAA (or the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) passed in 1996 and has been touted by legislators, physicians, patients, and health industry leaders as a law that protects patient medical data privacy. It turns out, as with the names of many laws that pass in Congress, the act does the exact opposite as what you might guess. The act allows for over 2.2 million entities in the US to trade, disperse, and sell your personal medical data without your consent.

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