Free Republic

Federal Powers: Where in the U.S. Constitution does it say the government can force people to buy health insurance? And by what authority does it prohibit the purchasing of insurance across state lines?A key part of the administration's plan to reform health care is what is called the "individual mandate" — a requirement that everyone must have health insurance either through his or her employer or purchased individually. A good chunk of the uninsured are that way of their own volition. They are young and healthy and feel they have better things to do with their money at this point...

Most Americans don’t realize we have elected a president whom we know very little about. Researchers have discovered that Obama’s autobiographical books are little more than PR stunts, as they have little to do with the actual events of his life. The fact is we know less about President Obama than perhaps any other president in American history and much of this is due to actual efforts to hide his record. This should concern all Americans. A nation-wide network of researchers has sprung up to attempt to fill in the blanks, but at every opportunity Obama’s high-priced lawyers have built...

“HR 3200: Section 1401, Page 503: The Government will build a central electronic database of ALL private medical records and may secure directly from any agency or department information necessary to carry-out the provisions of this Bill…” While President Obama’s Healthcare Plan contains a multitude of horrors, perhaps the worst is making available online to your local town government and police your complete personal records. Do not be calmed by assurances that these records will be assiduously protected and available only to proper channels for the purpose of ensuring your health. Let me suggest that this private information will be...

WASHINGTON – Vice President Joe Biden plans to announce Thursday nearly $1.2 billion in grants to help hospitals transition to electronic medical records.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53857 Obama Announces Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 9, 2009 – President Barack Obama announced plans today to create a joint virtual lifetime electronic record that will improve care and services to transitioning veterans by smoothing the flow of medical records between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments. The concept, long advocated by officials in both departments, is considered a major step toward improving the delivery of care and services to servicemembers transitioning from military to civilian life. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and...

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,...