Yellow Dot and HIPAA

I’m confused.  We spend so much time and money in this country worried about HIPAA and patient privacy and now people are putting all their healthcare data on a piece of paper in their glovebox and putting a sticker on their car letting people know that it’s there.  The program is called Yellow Dot.  (see USA Today article)

Don’t get me wrong…I think it’s a great, low-cost strategy to give data to rescue workers in an emergency.  (Not that there shouldn’t be a much easier strategy using technology.)  I’m just amazed that no one seems to worry about privacy here.  Maybe, privacy is only an issue when data can be stolen in mass quantities and sold not when someone can break into your car at the grocery store and take all your information.

Am I alone on this or do others find these things difficult to reconcile?