-Caveat Lector-
From: Eagle Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999
Subj: Clintonites Close In On Our Medical Records
Clintonites Close In On Our Medical Records
April 7, 1999 by: Phyllis Schlafly
While the American people were trying to kill the FDIC Know Your
Customer plan to monitor our financial records, the Clintonites
have been moving steadily and craftily to grab access to our health
records. Just as local bankers were to have been coopted to spy on
our bank accounts, the Administration is using two groups, home
health providers and senior citizens, to spy on our medical records
and forward all sorts of personal data to government databases.
The pretext for these overreaching regulations is to uncover
"fraud and abuse." But the methodology is to monitor all
law-abiding citizens under the supposition that any of us
might be doing something criminal.
The new regulation to force 9,000 home health care agencies to
collect and report sensitive information about all their patients
was issued by the powerful federal agency called HCFA (Health Care
Financing Administration). OASIS (Outcome and Assessment
Information Set) is the cutesy name for this latest venture into
Big Brotherism.
Under OASIS, home health providers must interrogate ALL their
patients, not merely those whose bills are being paid by the
government through Medicare or Medicaid, exempting only children
under age 18 and pre- and post-natal mothers. The government is
thus reaching out to grab the medical records of patients whose
medical bills are paid by private sources, i.e., not paid by the
government.
The 12-page fine-print form that home health care providers must
fill out on each patient is extraordinarily detailed, offensively
privacy-invading to the patient, and obviously exhausting and
time-consuming for the employee conducting the interrogation.
Curiously, this mandatory government form carries a copyright
notice on every page, probably to prevent commentators like me
from making copies and alerting the public to this new evidence
of the Clintonites' efforts to collect information that is none of
the government's business.
The questionnaire isn't just about medical history, treatment and
medications. Questions must be answered on race, ethnicity, family,
whether you own or rent your residence, whom you live with, your
finances, and your psychological attitude and behavior, of course,
all tied into your Social Security number.
There's much more. The questionnaire demands information on your
mental state, your depression, your tobacco and alcohol use, your
obesity, your bathing and eating practices, and your lack of
motivation, unrealistic expectations, indecisiveness, suicide
attempts, and life expectancy. The form asks if you make grammar
mistakes, or use "excessive profanity" or "sexual references," and
it has 53 boxes to be filled out on toilet and "elimination"
performance.
The home health care interrogator is instructed how to win the
patient's trust before asking these nosy questions. If the patient
refuses to answer any questions, the home health care employee is
told to insert his own "observations."
There is no provision for voluntary informed consent on the part of
the patient, or that he be told that his responses will be logged
onto government databases. Home health providers must obey HCFA
directives under penalty of not getting paid for their Medicare
patients.
These forms must be filled out every time a home health care
provider enrolls a new patient, and then revised every 60 days.
Data are sent electronically to computers at state agencies and
then to HCFA's database.
It was the 1996 Kennedy- Kassebaum Act (which Bob Dole bragged
about passing) that legislated the framework for a federal system
of collecting and sharing medical records identified by a unique
number for each patient. The OASIS regulation is another step to
implement one of the original goals of Clinton's 1994 nationalized
health plan: global budgeting, i.e. government management of all
private, as well as public, health-care spending.
When grassroots Americans found out about the Know Your Customer
Regulation, they flooded the FDIC with 300,000 negative comments
over a three-month comment period. But the comment period for the
OASIS regulation expired March 26, and major newspapers didn't
report it until 15 days before the deadline.
The Clinton Administration's other campaign to gather medical
records is a plan to recruit all senior citizens to spy on their
own physicians with the goal of accusing them of fraud. Attorney
General Janet Reno has made a public-private partnership with AARP
to offer senior citizens the chance to collect a reward of up to
$1000 if they file a report that leads to a monetary "recovery"
from their doctor.
If a senior suspects that his doctor has billed Medicare too much
for a service rendered, the senior is supposed to call the
toll-free "Fraud Hotline'' and report the doctor as a possible
thief and crook.
The harassment potential is enormous when 39 million seniors start
trying to collect a bonus if the doctor's office enters the wrong
payment code number on a Medicare form. It is probable that most
seniors believe that everything they buy is overpriced because they
grew up at a time when prices were so much lower.
What a malicious scheme to harass doctors and destroy any
confidential relationship between doctors and patients!
Phyllis Schlafly column 4-07-99
***************************************************************
Purchase Eagle Forum materials at our new on-line store!
http://www.eagleforum.org/order/
***************************************************************
Eagle Forum http://www.eagleforum.org
PO Box 618 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Alton, IL 62002 Phone: 618-462-5415
Fax: 618-462-8909
---------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to Eagle E-mail
please e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
To unsubscribe, please send a message with
UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
-----------------------------------------------------
.
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
