{"id":7874,"date":"2011-09-23T18:49:32","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T22:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=7874"},"modified":"2011-09-23T18:49:32","modified_gmt":"2011-09-23T22:49:32","slug":"obamacare-hhs-rule-would-give-government-everybody%e2%80%99s-health-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/09\/obamacare-hhs-rule-would-give-government-everybody%e2%80%99s-health-records.html","title":{"rendered":"Obamacare HHS rule would give government everybody\u2019s health records"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SHOCK CLAIM: New rule would give government\u00a0everybody’s<\/em>\u00a0health records…<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"\"
Kathleen Sebelius, 21st United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Assumed office April 28, 2009<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By: Rep. Tim Huelskamp
\nOpEd Contributor<\/p>\n

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has proposed that medical records of all Americans be turned over to the federal government by private health insurers.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been said a thousand times: Congress had to pass President Obama\u2019s health care law in order to find out what\u2019s in it. But, despite the repetitiveness, the level of shock from each new discovery never seems to recede.<\/p>\n

This time, America is learning about the federal government\u2019s plan to collect and aggregate confidential patient records for every one of us.<\/p>\n

In a proposed rule from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the federal government is demanding insurance companies submit detailed health care information about their patients.<\/p>\n

(See Proposed Rule: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Standards Related to Reinsurance, Risk Corridors and Risk Adjustment, Volume 76, page 41930. Proposed rule docket ID is HHS-OS-2011-0022 http:\/\/www.gpo.gov\/fdsys\/pkg\/FR-2011-07-15\/pdf\/2011-17609.pdf)<\/p>\n

The HHS has proposed the federal government pursue one of three paths to obtain this sensitive information: A \u201ccentralized approach\u201d wherein insurers\u2019 data go directly to Washington; an \u201cintermediate state-level approach\u201d in which insurers give the information to the 50 states; or a \u201cdistributed approach\u201d in which health insurance companies crunch the numbers according to federal bureaucrat edict.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s par for the course with the federal government, but abstract terms are used to distract from the real objectives of this idea: no matter which \u201coption\u201d is chosen, government bureaucrats would have access to the health records of every American – including you.<\/p>\n

There are major problems with any one of these three \u201coptions.\u201d First is the obvious breach of patient confidentiality. The federal government does not exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to managing private information about its citizens.<\/p>\n

Why should we trust that the federal government would somehow keep all patient records confidential? In one case, a government employee\u2019s laptop containing information about 26.5 million veterans and their spouses was stolen from the employee\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

There’s also the HHS contractor who lost a laptop containing medical information about nearly 50,000 Medicare beneficiaries. And, we cannot forget when the USDA’s computer system was compromised and information and photos of 26,000 employees, contractors, and retirees potentially accessed.<\/p>\n

The second concern is the government compulsion to seize details about private business practices. Certainly many health insurance companies defended and advocated for the president\u2019s health care law, but they likely did not know this was part of the bargain.<\/p>\n

They are being asked to provide proprietary information to governments for purposes that will undermine their competitiveness. Obama and Sebelius made such a big deal about Americans being able to keep the coverage they have under ObamaCare; with these provisions, such private insurance may cease to exist if insurers are required to divulge their business models.<\/p>\n

Certainly businesses have lost confidential data like the federal government has, but the power of the market can punish the private sector. A victim can fire a health insurance company; he cannot fire a bureaucrat.<\/p>\n

What happens to the federal government if it loses a laptop full of patient data or business information? What recourse do individual citizens have against an inept bureaucrat who leaves the computer unlocked? Imagine a Wikileaks-sized disclosure of every Americans\u2019 health histories. The results could be devastating – embarrassing – even Orwellian.<\/p>\n

With its extensive rule-making decrees, ObamaCare has been an exercise in creating authority out of thin air at the expense of individuals\u2019 rights, freedoms, and liberties.<\/p>\n

The ability of the federal government to spy on, review, and approve individuals\u2019 private patient-doctor interactions is an excessive power-grab.<\/p>\n

Like other discoveries that have occurred since the law\u2019s passage, this one leaves us scratching our heads as to the necessity not just of this provision, but the entire law.<\/p>\n

The HHS attempts to justify its proposal on the grounds that it has to be able to compare performance. No matter what the explanation is, however, this type of data collection is an egregious violation of patient-doctor confidentiality and business privacy. It is like J. Edgar Hoover in a lab coat.<\/p>\n

And, no matter what assurances Obama, Sebelius and their unelected and unaccountable HHS bureaucrats make about protections and safeguards of data, too many people already know what can result when their confidential information gets into the wrong hands, either intentionally or unintentionally.<\/p>\n

Republican Tim Huelskamp represents the first congressional district of Kansas.<\/p>\n

Read more at the Washington Examiner:http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/op-eds\/2011\/09\/obamare-hhs-rule-would-give-government-everybody-s-health-records#ixzz1Yolo1WnA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHOCK CLAIM: New rule would give government\u00a0everybody’s\u00a0health records… By: Rep. Tim Huelskamp OpEd Contributor Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has proposed that medical records of all Americans be turned over to the federal government by private health insurers. It\u2019s been said a thousand times: Congress had to pass President Obama\u2019s health care…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[599,701,705,428,1354,1815,68,450,429,806],"tags":[3015,3016,3017,3018,3019,3020,3021,9401,3022,3023],"class_list":["post-7874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-government","category-democrats","category-government-2","category-health-medicine","category-liberals","category-obamacare-obamataxcare","category-political-correctness","category-politics","category-society","category-warning","tag-department-of-health-and-human-services","tag-federal-regulation","tag-health-care","tag-health-insurance","tag-hhs","tag-hippa-act","tag-medical-records","tag-obamacare-obamataxcare","tag-patient-privacy","tag-secretary-kathleen-sebelius"],"yoast_head":"\nObamacare HHS rule would give government everybody\u2019s health records - Watchwoman on the Wall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/09\/obamacare-hhs-rule-would-give-government-everybody\u2019s-health-records.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obamacare HHS rule would give government everybody\u2019s health records - Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SHOCK CLAIM: New rule would give government\u00a0everybody’s\u00a0health records… By: Rep. Tim Huelskamp OpEd Contributor Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has proposed that medical records of all Americans be turned over to the federal government by private health insurers. 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