"medical privacy rules" [Archive] - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

Boxcar

04-18-2001, 09:30 AM

The new "medical privacy rule", which Bush wants to sign into law would, yet, be another nail in the coffin of our legitimate rights to privacy and freedom. (See post that follows.) Given the popular socialistic climate today, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to connect the dots of where this piece of pernicious legislation could lead this nation. First, we have legalized a mother's "right" to abort the human fetus. Then supporters for euthenasia have grown more vocal over the years in defending one's "right" to die. More recenty, the socialists and scientists with a Frankenstein bent want to perform experiments in human cloning and have unabashedly stated that if this type of "scientific investigation" is outlawed in this country, they would merely pick up shop and locate to another country to conduct those kinds of experiements.

And now the federal government wants complete access to our medical records -- all with the promise, of course, that those records would be kept confidential. Ha! Such was the promise when the first SS numbers were issued many years ago! Now today, there is very much that American's can't do unless we're willing to reveal on demand what has become our branding mark -- our national I.D. number. (A friend of mine once related a true story about how his cousin was refused medical treatment by a doctor within his insurance plan because he refused to give fill in his SS number on the pre-exam form. Welcome to AmeriKa!)

If you're like me and have a very healthy distrust of Big Brother, you'll want to take the appropriate action suggested in the following post. But if you think Big Brother is a benevolent force operating for the "public good" or "public safety", then do nothing. But do it at your own peril, for if this "medical privacy rule" becomes law, we could all be realizing a true life horror story, beyond our wildest imaginations, and a lot sooner than you think. Just connect those aforementioned trend dots.

Boxcar

04-18-2001, 09:35 AM

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PRIVACY NEWS UPDATE
==============
Bush ignores comments and quietly imposes rule;
privacy advocates pin hopes on House resolution

Dear Friends:

We have bad news and good news to report regarding our
e-mail campaign for medical privacy.

First the bad news: In a surprise move, President Bush
has quietly decided that the HHS regulations will start going
into effect on Saturday, April 14. According to an article in
Thursday's Wall Street Journal, Bush has quietly decided
"against any further delays in implementing" the Clinton-era
rules.

You may have noticed that the Bush ruling, which the
Journal said "stunned industry lobbyists," got very little
publicity. That's the way Bush wanted it, because he and HHS
Secretary Tommy Thompson know that the public is becoming
alarmed at the government's attempt to seize control over
medical records and turn them over to "third parties."

Bush's maneuver comes despite the fact that:

* On Monday, Thompson admitted that he had been
inundated with over 24,000 letters commenting on the rules and
needed more time "to assimilate the written documents." Thompson
claimed he wanted a 60-day delay to allow time to change the
rules before imposing them. Oddly, Thompson made no mention of
the Bush decision, which was also made on Monday, according to
the Journal.

* The regulations were originally written by the Clinton
administration under the guidance of then-HHS Secretary Donna
Shalala.

* Industry groups had warned that the new regulations
could cost the health-care system up to $18 billion over 10
years.

* Most important, more than 60,000 people have flooded
the federal government with comments over the past 30 days. As
of Thursday at 4:15pm, 43,975 people had signed the pro-privacy
petition to Congress located at http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com.
Combined with the 24,000 comments mailed to the HHS, that means
that the opinions of over 67,000 Americans have now been brushed
aside by the Bush administration. (A White House spokesman that
Thompson will "work to modify the rules" over the next few
months, but doing so will be much harder once the rules are put
in place.)

But the most dangerous aspect of this regulation -- and
the one most overlooked in news reports -- is that for the first
time the government, rather than patients and doctors, would be
in complete control of private medical records. That's because
the regulation requires doctors and hospitals to share all
electronic medical records with the government for a variety of
vague purposes, such as to "streamline medical billing
procedures" or for "public health surveillance." Then the
government, rather than individual patients, will decide who gets
to see them.

Not surprisingly, the government promises to keep your
medical records confidential. But keep in mind that this is the
same government that once promised to keep your Social Security
number confidential. The same government whose IRS employees
illegally rifle through Americans' tax returns. The same
government whose FBI agents illegally turned over 4,000
confidential personnel files to the White House.

Sadly, the only way to truly protect your medical records
is to make sure the government doesn't have them. And that's why
Bush's sudden decision is so disappointing.

Now here's the good news: There is still one way these
rules can still be stopped, whether Bush and Thompson like it or
not. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas has introduced a resolution,
HJR 38, which declares that the rules "shall have no force or
effect." Under federal law, this resolution would make the HHS
regulation null and void -- but only if it passes the House and
Senate within 60 legislative days. In other words, if we can
generate enough Congressional support for HJR 38 by about June
15, Bush's directive would become irrelevant.

And there's good reason for optimism: According to
reports by Reuters news service and The Washington Post, Thompson
has come under heavy pressure from "industry groups and
lawmakers" who are worried about the regulations.

Translation: Our e-mail campaign has grabbed the
attention of Congress, which in turn grabbed the attention of
Thompson. At this point, House representatives have been
inundated with an average of 101 e-mails each from
http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com -- and that's far too many to
ignore.

No wonder Americans are worried. This regulation, which
was published in the Federal Register on December 28, 2000,
would:

* Give dozens of government agencies and thousands of
bureaucrats access to your medical records -- including the
private notes of a psychotherapist -- without your consent.

* Assign every American a "unique patient identifier,"
whether you want one or not, by working in conjunction with the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The number
would be similar to a Social Security number for medical
transactions -- and would make accessing an individual's medical
records as easy as running a credit check.

* Permit police agencies to access medical records
without a search warrant.

* Let government agencies share your records with
marketing companies. The rules specifically allow pharmacies to
share prescription records "for the purpose of marketing health-
related products and services" without your consent.

* Allow private insurance companies to compile the
medical information into a database.

* Prevent patients involved in health research projects
from accessing their own medical records in some cases.

Now that the Bush administration has issued its anti-
privacy decree, it's time to concentrate our efforts on HJR 38.

If we can hit Congress with another big wave of e-mail
over the next 60 days, we might be able to force the government
to pull the plug on the regulation permanently. Our strategy is
to let politicians know that they will be held accountable on
Election Day if they refuse to dismantle this regulation.

Sadly, unelected bureaucrats like Tommy Thompson may not
care what you think; after all, you can't fire them. But you can
fire your Congressional representative -- so they *have to care*
what you think.

Now it's time to let your House representative know, loud
and clear, that you're opposed to any attempt to turn your
private medical records over to the government and third parties
-- and that you want the HHS medical privacy rule killed.

Please visit http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com
immediately. With the click of a button, you can ask your
Congressional representative to support Joint House Resolution
38, which would pull the plug on this regulation once and for
all.

Then circulate this e-mail to your friends and refer them
to the site.

Thank you again for your support of
http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com

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