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SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A Seminole County woman was expecting a new insurance card from Blue Cross, Blue Shield, but she got a lot more than that. The woman said she received a box filled with hundreds of personal, private medical records for other people. The brown box sitting on her front doorstep Friday morning, she said, didn't look too out of place. However, as soon as the Sanford woman opened it, she found stack after stack of people's private medical records that certainly weren't in the right place.

A long time ago, I called for the death penalty when it comes to individuals who break into computer systems for the purposes of malicious mischief. Such malfeasance costs businesses and individuals big bucks for security software. The punks have stolen millions of medical records and are blackmailing the government. The FBI is investigating a $10 million ransom demand by a hacker or hackers who say they have stolen nearly 8.3 million patient records from a Virginia government Web site that tracks prescription drug abuse, an FBI official confirmed Wednesday. This really takes balls or an assumption that if caught,...

The US federal government faces a long-term fiscal gap, which exceeds, from all indications, $70 trillion. This gap is the present value difference between all projected future expenditures and all projected future receipts. Its size reflects the impending retirement of 78m baby boomers and the fact that when retired, they will receive annual benefits from social security, Medicaid (the healthcare scheme for people on low incomes) and Medicare (for the elderly and disabled) that average more than per capita gross domestic product. The fiscal gap is the true measure of the nation’s net fiscal obligations because it puts explicit and...

(CNSNews.com) – Two top House Democrats told CNSNews.com on Friday that a section in the $787-billion economic stimulus bill that requires the creation of “electronic health records for each person in the United States by 2014” does not mean that the medical records of every American must be included in the new national infrastructure. In the bill, which passed both chambers of Congress on Friday and which President Obama is scheduled to sign Tuesday, $3 billion is allocated for a “National Coordinator for Health Information Technology” to create and meet the objectives of a strategic plan to build a national...

Final Stimulus Bill Creates Government Database that Will Hold Every American’s Personal Medical Records Thursday, February 12, 2009 By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer (CNSNews.com) - The final version of the stimulus bill, negotiated by the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, includes a provision creating a federal data base that will hold the personal medical records of every American, Katie Grant, spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told CNSNews.com Thursday. The full language of the final package had not been released as of press time. But the the bills that passed both the House and Senate created...

Buried in the bowels of the stimulus plan the Senate passed Tuesday are key healthcare provisions that will set America on the road to socialized medicine, involve the government in your choice of a doctor, and inevitably trigger another funding crisis that will be used to justify still greater federal intervention in America’s healthcare industry, experts tell Newsmax. Among the most controversial parts of the bill are new federal guidelines that will require the government, rather than a doctor, to decide whether a patient should get medical care. Ironically, the stimulus bill that will cost more than $1 trillion will...

President Obama has proposed spending about $20 billion in the economic-stimulus bill to computerize medical records within five years. Most experts agree this could add jobs, improve treatment and reduce costs. But at issue is privacy. Consumer groups worry that without adequate safeguards, information could be stolen or misused, while other groups fear that too many restrictions would hurt efficiency. Technology "is a significant part of the solution" to problems with medical records, ... "But there's a tension between protecting privacy and still allowing the transmission of data when it's appropriate." Consumer groups worry that without adequate safeguards, the information...

Lathrup Village, MI (LifeNews.com) -- An abortion practitioner in Michigan and his chain of abortions businesses were given probation on Wednesday in a case involving the illegal dumping of patient records. Last year, members of a local pro-life group found biohazard waste and medical records at the Womancare abortion business.

Lost among the language of Obama's "Economic Stimulus Package," aka "Welfare for Lobbyists," is a little-discussed provision to demand that every American submit to a government program for electronic medical records without a choice to opt out. The fact that this kicks HIPPA to the curb, not to mention all other right-to-privacy laws, including those under the FOIA, is bad enough. Having your medical records sold by GOOGLE to its advertisers makes this provision unconscionable. But, WAIT! There's more!" Towards the end of the article is this nugget:The Citizens' Council on Health Care has worked to publicize the issue in...

A little-discussed provision in President Obama's economic stimulus plan would demand that every American submit to a government program for electronic medical records without a choice to opt out, and it has privacy advocates more than a little alarmed. Patients might be alarmed, too, privacy advocates said, if they realized information such as documentation on abortions, mental health problems, impotence, being labeled as a non-compliant patient, lawsuits against doctors and sexual problems could be shared electronically with, perhaps, millions of people.

ABC News’ Kate Snow Reports: Governor Sarah Palin's campaign plans to release information regarding her medical history early this week, according to campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt. Schmitt told ABC News by email on Sunday that she was not sure what day the records would be released but it would be "early this week". "We are working on this and it will happen sooner than later," Schmitt said. Last week, Governor Palin said she would be "fine" with releasing medical information. She is the only one of the presidential or vice presidential candidates who has not released any health information about...

(CNN) -- Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, 65, released his medical records Monday, detailing the treatment of two brain aneurysms in 1988 and other, mostly minor medical problems. Biden's Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 44, has not released any medical information. Biden's running mate, Obama, 47, has not released records either; his campaign did release a one-page summary of those records, which concluded concluded that he is in excellent health. The campaign of Sen. John McCain has derided Obama for running "on a doctor's note." McCain, 72, this spring offered reporters a glimpse of more than 1,100 pages...

Senator John McCain, hoping to become the oldest man inaugurated as president, is cancer-free and in general good health, according to medical records his campaign released yesterday and testimonials by his doctors. more stories like thisMcCain, who has survived four cases of melanoma, has not had a recurrence of the skin cancer since his last melanoma was removed in 2002, said his Mayo Clinic dermatologist, Dr. Suzanne M. Connolly. While McCain has minor ailments not uncommon for a 71-year-old man - such as a prior case of enlarged prostate - the senator is in good cardiovascular shape and is fit...

Three-time melanoma survivor John McCain appears cancer-free, has a strong heart and is in otherwise general good health, according to eight years of medical records reviewed by The Associated Press. "I do not see any worrisome lesions," Dr. Suzanne Connolly concluded after McCain's most recent exam, on May 12. His likely Democratic rival, Barack Obama, will be 47 in August. Obama, lean and agile and a frequent basketball player, says he has quit smoking. Neither he nor Democratic opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton has released health records. The details of McCain's health are contained in 1,173 pages of medical documents spanning...

As Americans kick off the first holiday weekend of the summer Friday, Sen. John McCain will release 400 pages of his medical records to a handpicked group of reporters who can neither photocopy nor keep the documents, illustrating the sensitivity the campaign places on the 71-year-old candidate's age and health. For more than a year, the four-term senator has repeatedly promised to release his recent medical records, but has not yet done so. The McCain campaign has selected a handful of news organizations to review the records today in a conference room at the Copper Wynd Resort in Fountain Hills,...

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. will begin storing the medical records of a few thousand people as it tests a long-awaited health service that's likely to raise more concerns about the volume of sensitive information entrusted to the Internet search leader. The pilot project to be announced Thursday will involve 1,500 to 10,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic who volunteered to an electronic transfer of their personal health records so they can be retrieved through Google's new service, which won't be open to the general public. Each health profile, including information about prescriptions, allergies and medical histories, will be protected...

But a huge story broke yesterday that got almost no attention because it was overshadowed by stories of people going to the polls voting. In fact, I would dare say that this story could have more impact on our lives in America in the next 20 years than the results of yesterday's midterm congressional elections. I'm talking about news of an imminent action by the New York City Board of Health to permit people born in the city to change the sex recorded on their birth certificates and, thus, change their legal sexual identity. Think about the implications of this...

LOS ANGELES - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Monday asking state department heads to develop plans for spending $240 million creating electronic medical records for rural communities and health safety-net providers. The order also seeks ideas on developing public-private partnerships to improve information technology for hospitals, doctors and other health care providers. The governor made the announcement at a health summit in Los Angeles where he brought together leaders from business, labor unions, universities and patient advocacy groups to explore ways to lower health care costs and insure more people. Schwarzenegger also announced he wants to create new...

A man who purchased 41 tapes from the B.C. government found himself the unexpected owner of 77,000 personal medical files. The tapes included records such as HIV status, substance abuse history and mental illness. The man bought the tapes at a public government auction with the intention of selling them. The man, who assumed the tapes were blank when he purchased them, handed them over to the Vancouver Sun when he realized the information they contained. Minister of Labour Mike de Jong said an investigation is underway into how the sensitive records ended up on the auction block. "It is...

Judge Returns Records to Rush Limbaugh In an apparent legal victory for top talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, Florida Circuit Judge Thomas Barkdull has returned most of his medical records to his attorney, Roy Black - thereby denying prosecutors "free rein" over Limbaugh's medical file.