SALT LAKE CITY – People who say they are sick with certain diseases can jump to the front of the line for a COVID-19 vaccine. When that person shows up to take the photo, no one will ask for proof. It’s all in the honor system, Utah and state health officials said.
But even if there is no legal consequence, people who lie can, in fact, be punished. KSL researchers found that there could actually be a financial penalty for lying about being sick to get the vaccine.
If you tell the county health department that you have a comorbidity, a health record will be created. And health records are insurers’ favorite tool when trying to determine whether you deserve to have life insurance.
“If it’s on your medical records, that life insurer will consider it to be true,” said Brian King, a lawyer who specializes in fighting life insurers to pay claims.
King said having a serious medical condition listed on health records could mean anything from having to pay more for life insurance to not being eligible for life insurance. It can even give a life insurer an excuse for not paying your family after you die.
“People don’t think about it,” said King. “They don’t think about their future. They are looking at the immediate need or desire to skip the line and get vaccinated sooner or later. It can come back and bite you hard.”
(People) don’t think about their future. They are looking at the immediate need or desire to skip the line and get vaccinated sooner or later. He can come back and bite you hard.
–Brian King, lawyer
Rep. Norm Thurston of Utah, R-Provo, worked on several insurance-related laws during his time on the hill. He saw how extremely expensive a person’s medical records can be for him.
“Insurers routinely request medical records,” said Thurston.
Thurston said people routinely lie in their life insurance claims to keep premiums low – for example, claiming that they don’t smoke when they smoke. That would be the opposite of that – lying about being sicker.
Thurston said this territory is somewhat unknown and that time will tell how much life insurers depend on medical records created in the vaccination process to determine the client’s risk. But he agreed with King that it is conceivable that it would cost someone insurance.
“If someone writes in the form ‘I have diabetes’ or ‘I have uncontrolled blood pressure’, that form will create a record and the life insurer will be able to obtain it,” said Thurston.
Of course, medical records are not public records, and health departments do not share them with life insurers without the patient’s permission. But a life insurance company may refuse to insure that patient if it refuses to give permission to view medical records.
“We hope people are honest,” Salt Lake County Health Department spokesman Nick Rupp told KSL TV, even though he knows the expectation is somewhat mixed.
The county found liars even before the criteria were expanded to allow people with certain comorbidities to receive the vaccine in Utah.
“We have had some people who have lied through the system about their date of birth to be eligible sooner than they should have been,” he said.