Here's more about my consumer watch diaries. Data selling and buying has reached an absolute epidemic rate? Why, because companies and banks make BILLIONS selling it. The latest here is health insurance companies buying data on everything you buy electronically. They know when you buy a cheeseburger, a plane ticket, you name it.
Of course they have to hire additional analysts to crunch this and create additional analytic software for sale. The two go together. This is a copy and paste from my blogand has most of what I wrote. In the famous worlds of folks smarter than me, "with software you can do anything"...so where will this information turn up? Where will the insurers re-sell us and how flawed will it get...this is all going on 24/7 and it's hard to deal with as it's invisible...part of the reasons why companies are sitting on a lot of cash, it's easy money, but hurts consumers when used out of context and flawed...
Yes here we go again and more on this same topic. Companies get absolutely rich and wealthy doing this and don’t get sucked in to think that you are the #1 focus, it’s money and you are second; however when you switch over to the product side, you are #1 and how much your data is worth. Ok my usual example here Walgreens made short of $800 million selling data in 2010 so look who some of their customers probably are..we have Blue Cross mentioned here and later on in the video United Healthcare is mentioned too which they are the pros and have been doing this longer than most others in healthcare. It’s what they do with all their IT analytics to create senses of urgency sometimes.
Some of their reports and studies are completely out of line when they start tossing “trillions” out there to be saved as nobody knows but that’s the world of marketing and companies as such just so happen to be in the insurance business too, they have dual personalities at times, depending on which subsidiary focus you might have. So watch the video and I’ll continue this after the break with a few links on why we need to license and tax data sellers. We need an algorithmic process to begin moving the money from the 1% to the 99% and this is a good plan.
Pretty interesting to hear Blue Cross on the phone, they don’t use it for insuring they say, but who knows what is used where anymore. Insurance companies have so many subsidiaries anymore, and United trumps all of them with even owning a bank. Just give this some thought here, will the data police show up and haul you off if you are a diabetic and bought a candy bar that was for your daughter one day who is not a diabetic? Do you want to get the third degree when you check out or handed an algorithmic print out that tells you what you are doing wrong? These are processes folks where the technology is there to do such. Its runs on servers 24/7. People are writing and selling data that should not be matched and then market it to the hilt to suck you in. Watch the first video on the left hand side of my blog to see NYU professor Seife explain how you get “Algo Duped”. On top of this the data is getting flawed as well.
Does the US Need A Department of Algorithms, I Wrote this Question 3 years ago
Here’s a great example of flawed data..can’t even get accurate listings of doctors and hospitals on the web…I’ve been on this for a couple years…this is a big chunk of why healthcare cost is so high…they don’t need all of this..See look you can still go see Michael Jackson’s doctor if you believe what you see on the web…
Flawed Data - Michael Jacksons's Ex MD still shows on web pages as an Honor Roll MD
Next I would advise all to watch the 2nd video on the left, Quants of Wall Street, which gives you some real insight as to how math is used for all these models that use the “mined” data for one and other information, the Quants tell you flat out that they have to figure a formula to reduce risk whether is accurate or not…they do this to make money. There’s good data and analytics out there too but they all have error factors and values, and some have “fake” values, and telling the difference is hard. Below at this link is a great video forum with companies such as T-Mobile, NASA and others discussing how to find value in big data and how to work with their company Quants. They have them as well writing math formulas for the algorithms to execute. I recommend it highly as this is straight talk that you don’t get very often. The link below is perhaps a little "hard hat" material but there's a video with big conglomerates talking about how they use their data, and half of them don't know what has value in their own words.
Analytics Used Out of Context Against Consumers
Now that we have that out of the way, this leads to the next back post I recently made that half of the analytics purchased out there are going to be a total waste and it’s true when “junk” is bought that has fake risk assessments figured in and when non linear matches are made on data that doesn’t belong there. They do it though to make money and could care less on the impact of the consumer.
Credit people are good at this in over selling their data and analytics…remember sub prime…bingo..and it still goes on. So the insurance company buys that data, so what subsidiary of theirs would they send it to? That’s a good question as United could be sending it to one of their medical record companies, one of their wellness companies, to their bank they own, to the doctors groups they own, to AARP, to their various analytics firm companies (formerly known as Ingenix now Optum) and tons more. They have an over flowing river of subsidiaries and the company sells data like there’s no tomorrow all over the place. There’s a ton of behavioral analytics folks out there that salivate for this stuff. I sad the other day some dating sites send off de-identified profile information to the behavioral analytics folks. I play around with “Recorded Future” a little just to see what some of this predicting analytics has to say. Sure, you can trend with it, but totally different story when you take this down to an individual level with mining what’s on the web too. Here we go could United get a contract selling this information to Medicare and Medicaid too? Think about it… the make billions selling data…is this next? All insurers use your prescription data though for underwriting purposes, that’s been going on for years.
Will these analtyics be sold to Medicare and Medicaid by Untied
I end up talking to some real nutcases too, one the other day from an executive who runs a large nursing home facility. We entered into the data selling conversation and I made mention of the farce analytics that FICO sells with credit information and scoring people. He went off and went nuts and said that’s a great idea. So I asked, what are you going to do buy the analytics and waste a bunch of money? When you admit your patients you do a credit check anyway, are you that duped that you think there’s something there you missed? What are you going to do with this information, cherry pick and kick the low scorers out of the beds so you can make a bigger bonus on your efficiencies? See how this gets misinterpreted? For actual use, it had no value but he saw it as a way to use numbers to make his bonus bigger and show more efficiencies in doing his job…crap get those folks away from me!
Other than that he was nice person but boy toss those numbers and out little concern for residents and the option of more money just took over everything in his head and that’s not right. You need balance and the ability to know when you don’t need to spend money on “junk” analytics. This was prime case if I ever heard it. He was totally duped to thinking the FICO analytics had any value at all, period. Duped, duped and duped again and prime example of consumers getting hurt and analytics used out of context.
Ever wonder why healthcare can be so expensive? Remember billions in profits are made..stand by and watch company after company waste some of this money..as they get sucked in to the wrong analytics..or ones that do not fit their needs…
Half of the Analytics Purchased by Companies will be a waste
Video that has Blue Cross on the phone stating yes they do collect this data is at this link, could not get the embed here but a few more of my comments here as well calling for excise taxing and licensing the data sellers so consumers can look up and see who sells what kind of data and to who...we have nothing now. Billions and billions are made in profits...i.e. my same old example of Walgreens making short of $800 million in 2010, selling data only...
Video and additional information...