Decades-old IBM database became profitable dossier on health of 270M Americans
> <i>He started by reaching out to the biggest corporations. If they would agree to give him data on their employees’ paid medical claims, he would return to them an analysis of their cost drivers, benefit designs, and manageable risks that would give them leverage in negotiations with insurers</i><p>What?  Isn't this exactly the sort of thing HIPAA is supposed to ban?  What happened to doctor-patient confidentiality?  Why do employers even have that information?