=======================================
DON`T LET THE CLINTON THUGS GET AWAY WITH THIS, ITS YOUR HEALTH
=======================================
Your medical privacy is under attack
by politicians' Unique Health Identifier
WASHINGTON, DC -- There's less than a month left to block a
federal regulation that will permit thousands of businesses and
government agencies -- including banks, the FBI, and even the
Environmental Protection Agency -- to examine your private medical
records without your consent, the Libertarian Party warned today.
And equally ominous: The same regulation will mandate that each
American get a "Unique Health Identifier" -- a Social Security
Number-style identifier from the government that will follow you
throughout your life and be permanently attached to all your medical
records.
"If these proposals are enacted, you might as well post your
health history on the Internet, because nearly anyone who wants that
information will have access to it," said Steve Dasbach, national
director of the Libertarian Party. "These proposals are a devious
attempt by the government to diminish your medical privacy -- while
claiming to protect it."
The new rules were unveiled by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) in the Federal Register last month. The
Clinton Administration claimed the proposals would "safeguard"
Americans' medical privacy by making health-care companies responsible
for any privacy lapses or violations.
But the real result will be to throw your private records wide
open to dozens of government departments, for-profit businesses, and
law enforcement agencies, said Dasbach -- while stripping individuals
of their right to file lawsuits to protect their medical privacy.
"The government claims these rules are designed to protect
you," he said. "But trusting politicians to protect your medical
privacy is like hiring Bill Clinton as night watchman at a girls'
dormitory. The only way to protect your health records is to make sure
the government doesn't have them."
And because of the mandatory "Unique Health Identifier"
provision, accessing health records could become "just as easy and
convenient as accessing your credit history is now," he warned.
"The list of people who could read your medical records is like
a Who's Who of people you don't want to see them," said Dasbach.
Included on the list: Banks, state insurance commissions, the
Department of Justice, the FBI, criminal defense attorneys, federal
welfare agencies, the Health and Human Services' Office of Civil
Rights, the Social Security Administration, the Department of
Education, OSHA, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Is there anyone who wouldn't have access to your medical
records?
"Yes -- you!" said Dasbach. "The regulation doesn't guarantee
that individuals can access their own medical records in all
circumstances. Plus, there is no statutory authority for you to take
action if your medical privacy is breached. The government apparently
believes that federal bureaucrats and police have a greater right to
your medical records than you do."
But the prognosis isn't all bad, said Dasbach: There may still
be time to stop the proposal.
"We have a few weeks left to try to protect medical privacy,"
he said. "The Libertarian Party is working with other groups to stop
this medical spy scheme before it starts -- by encouraging Americans to
inundate the HHS with comments, and demand that politicians back down
from this malignant proposal."
The HHS is accepting public comments until January 3, 2000. If
the proposal isn't terminated by then, it will go into effect in
February 2000.
"When it comes to medical privacy, the government is the
disease," said Dasbach. "Stopping this proposal is one way we can keep
our medical privacy -- and liberty -- a little bit healthier."
To comment via e-mail, visit the special "Medical Privacy" link
on the Libertarian Party's website: www.LP.org.
--
The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver.
To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to:
[email protected] -or- [email protected]
with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line.
To post, address your message to: [email protected]
Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html
List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
