If I recall correctly, that was a Bush initiative. It’s something the health care providers AND insurance companies have been pushing for years. Ins. cos. want health records online so they can pour over them and find ancient records of someone & use them to deny coverage (a statement someone made to a dr., say, 20 years ago).
I don’t like it. I think it’s horrible. Imagine if you are a young guy and get an STD. That information will follow you to the grave. All your care providers and ins. cos. from that time until your death will know about it. And then there’s the danger of hackers. You KNOW it’ll be hacked, sooner or later.
But since the insurance cos. seem to eventually get what they want, and since both Republicans and Democrat political leaders have been paid to “want” it, too...I think this will happen. It won’t be the fed, per se, that has the database. It’s supposed to be some interconnected system of health care records or something.
The Fed will have it when 0bamacare goes fully online. Keep in mind you will have to prove you have insurance coverage when you file your taxes. Do you really believe it will simply be a matter of the insurance company filing a little form like a w-4?
Heaven forbid you need to go through one of the "exchanges" to get coverage...then your records will be an open book.