Congressional clock runs out on medical privacy campaign


[July 19] Despite more than 61,000 e-mail lobbying messages, 13 co-sponsors, and a last-minute "Action Item" from the LP national office, the Libertarian Party has fallen short in an effort to derail the federal government's so-called medical privacy regulation.

On June 15, a 60-day window for Congress to "veto" the regulation slammed shut, with no action taken on HJR 38, a bill filed by Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) that would have repealed the new regulation.

[B]As a result, the Health & Human Services' regulation, which will force doctors to turn their patients' confidential medical records over to the government, has officially gone into effect. The regulation was drafted by the Clinton administration and was quietly implemented by President George W. Bush, despite the public outcry against it.[/B]

"We gave a great effort, but we've lost what we always knew would be an uphill fight," said LP National Director Steve Dasbach. "The problem was that Democrats supported the regulation because it was Bill Clinton's baby, and Republicans supported the regulation because George W. Bush endorsed it.

"It was classic Washington, DC bipartisanship: The politicians won, and the American public -- and privacy -- lost."

Since the LP launched its campaign against the regulation in mid-April, 61,816 people had signed a petition opposing it at the www.DefendYourPrivacy.com website by mid-June, and 13 Congressional co-sponsors signed on in support of HJR 38.

However, that wasn't enough to move the bill out of committee, because House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) refused to schedule the measure for a vote. Capitol Hill sources said the House schedule was "very light" the week of June 15, and "a vote could easily have been scheduled. Hastert just didn't want to."

Although touted by government officials as a medical "privacy" regulation, the rule mandates that doctors must turn patient records over to federal agencies for "safekeeping," allows the release of medical records without patient consent for unspecified "public health" surveillance activities, and permits law enforcement agencies to access medical records without a search warrant.

The regulation also assigns every American a "unique patient identifier," allows foreign government officials to see Americans' health records if the U.S. government claims it is for a "national health purpose," and gives direct marketers access to medical records without patient consent.

The regulation was opposed by the Free Congress Foundation, the Institute for Health Freedom, the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), WorldNetDaily.com columnist Geoff Metcalf, and others.

According to law, Congress had 60 days from the time the regulation was approved by the HHS to "veto" it. HJR 38 would have declared that the HHS rule had "no force or effect," but the deadline expired on June 15.

A spokesman for Congressman Paul's office said they are "not quite sure yet" what additional action will be taken, but a meeting to "hash out a plan as to where to go from here" was scheduled for late June.

Invasion of privacy!....Why would they want them?

Dude, HIPPA is bad news. It is a phone book worth of regulations which will touch every facet of your doctors and hospitals computers, business, and relationship with you.
Right now a friend is trying to figure out if doctors can still have group consults under HIPPA.
Clinton shoved one right in the doctor's backs for opposing hillary's health plan.

great article imbroglio!!

wasn't p*ssy bushy's campaign slogan "freedom first"

i think what bushy really meant was that ending FREEDOM would be his FIRST priority.  see there you have it "freedom first"

and for all you bushy apologists: clinton gets the assist and bushy gets the dunk on this one.  dont even try to defend p*ssy bushy.

black and green:

why would they want them??

well the way i see it the easiest answer is that the government ALWAYS wants more info on you,  but specificaly this is yet another tool to use against you.  there can be many uses for this info.  one that comes to mind is that lets say the feds are going to raid some firearms enthusiast's house and they have the info that, lets say, this gunowner has a respiratory problem.  you can bet your bottom dollar that the raid WILL start with a respiratory irritant.

lets also say that the feds want you to inform on your friends who the feds think are breaking some fed law.  you say that you wont do it because you are not a weasel liar like fed agents.  guess what,  that cocaine addiction you kicked with medical help when you were 25 now "mysteriously" is made known, at the age of 35, to you current employer and for some reason you get laid off 3 weeks later.

there are 100's more scenarios that are possible--all that one has to do is think like a stinky federal agent and they will come to you.

Do you think this could be some kind of initial step to socialize healthcare one day in the future? I wonder how the American Medical Association and the health insurance companies fit into this? Just thinking out loud.