Should you tell your Doctor everything?

Medical records—and who has access to them—can be very mysterious. Doctors take a lot of notes during our visits. Lab tests come back with all kinds of codes and abbreviations that the average person doesn’t understand. In most cases, we don’t even have copies of the files our doctors keep on us.

Who can see those records? Obviously our doctor can, and our current insurance company see them when a medical provider sends them the bill. But what about insurance companies we might want to buy policies from in the future? If we tell our doctor everything, all the not-so-savory bits, will it come back to bite us later on? What if we lose our employer-sponsored health insurance and have to apply for coverage on our own? What if we need life insurance, or disability insurance?

When you apply for an insurance policy, you have to give the insurance company permission to look at your medical records. And it’s true that something they find in your file may mean you have higher premiums, or that you can’t qualify for coverage with the insurance company you like the best.

But for the most part, says Hank Stern, an independent insurance agent in Centerville, Ohio, insurance companies won’t go digging in an applicant’s medical records “unless there’s something on the application that makes them curious. They rarely pull records unless there’s a reason to because it costs them money.” Bill Evans, an insurance broker in California, said most life insurance companies require applicants to take a blood test. Any abnormalities that show up will trigger the company to look more closely at the applicant’s medical records.

You have to tell the truth on your insurance application, because if you don’t, your coverage may be yanked just when you need it most. And it’s in your best interest to tell your doctor the truth, too. Shiva Chandrasekaran, a physician at Temple University Health Systems in Philadelphia, said it’s very difficult for doctors to provide you with good medical care if you don’t tell them the truth. He said sometimes patients ask doctors not to write down everything that was discussed during the visit. If you do that, you’re asking your doctor to work for free, because “if we can’t write it down, then we can’t bill for it,” Dr. Chandrasekaran said.

The insurance experts we consulted told us that the chances are pretty small that something in your medical records will prevent you from getting insurance later on, unless it’s something you would disclose on your insurance application anyway. And Dr. Chandrasekaran tells us that hiding things from your doctor can be bad for your health.

So why do people do it? A recent study by American Legacy Foundation found that 21% of smokers who have access to health care don’t talk to their doctors about their habits. Another recent article by Newark Examiner health columnist Sharon Ufberg, said that many parents are using alternative health care techniques with their kids but not telling their doctors about it.

Perhaps it’s because we think we’ll get in trouble if our doctors know the whole truth about our personal habits. Perhaps we’re worried that it will cost us down the road if we aren’t able to get insurance because our doctor knows we like to smoke at parties.

But the experts’ opinions are unanimous. Honesty is the best policy.