Posted on 02/18/2009 4:25:53 AM PST by Kaslin
The so-called "stimulus" President Obama signed Tuesday is so unwieldy it had to be posted in two PDFs on the House Appropriations Committee's Website along with another two containing an "explanatory statement."
The law totaled 1,071 pages; the explanation, 421.
Yet, 216 of the law's 1,071 pages deal with a project not directly aimed at short-term economic stimulus, and these 216 pages were themselves divided into two distinct parts (139 pages in "Division A" of the law and 77 pages in "Division B").
Together, these 216 pages provide the legal framework for collecting every American's personal medical records into a federally coordinated electronic system.
As first pointed out in a Feb. 9 Bloomberg.com commentary by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey, it is reasonable to assume that this electronic-records system, together with a provision that creates a "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research," sets the stage for the creation of a nationalized health-care system that engages in British-style rationing.
But even if Congress and the president restrain themselves and pass no further law in pursuit of socialized medicine for the United States, the provisions already enacted in this law raise significant questions about the right to privacy and the right of doctors to practice medicine according to their best judgment.
Division A includes a section called "Title XIII -- Health Information Technology," which provides for "the development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure."
In the law's jargon, this infrastructure is supposed to allow for the "enterprise integration" of the "qualified electronic health record" of "each person in the United States by 2014."
What do "qualified electronic health record" and "enterprise integration" mean? A "qualified electronic health record," the law says, "means an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that -- (A) includes patient demographic and clinical health information, such as medical history and problems lists; and (B) has the capacity -- (i) to provide clinical decision support; (ii) to support physician order entry; (iii) to capture and query information relevant to health care quality; and (iv) to exchange electronic health information with, and integrate such information from other sources."
This mandate that your "electronic health record" (EHR) be able to communicate with "other sources" goes to the definition of "enterprise integration." This term, the law says, "means the electronic linkage of health care providers, health plans, the government and other interested parties to enable electronic exchange and use of health information among all the components in the health care infrastructure in accordance with applicable law."
The law directs an existing bureaucracy created by President Bush (the "Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology") to put together a plan for building this system so that it achieves the "utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014."
In plain English: Over the next five years, the Obama administration intends to create a federally run electronic exchange that includes every American's "medical history and problems lists."
Now, before you run out to the nearest federal office and sign up to put the "medical history and problems" lists for yourself, your spouse and your children into the government's "nationwide health information technology infrastructure," you should know the law does not require you -- as an individual -- to do this.
The "explanatory statement" for Division A explains this. "To the extent that this section calls the national coordinator to ensure that every person in the United States have an EHR by 2014, this goal is not intended to require individuals to receive services from providers that have electronic health records and is aimed at having the national coordinator takes steps to help providers adopt electronic health records," says the explanation. "This provision does not constitute a legal requirement on any patient to have an electronic health record."
But if the national coordinator cannot make you -- an individual -- submit your records to the system, how is the poor guy going get "an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014"?
This mystery created by 139 pages in Division A is solved by the 77 pages in Division B: The secretary of health and human services is given a carrot and stick to make doctors and hospitals create EHRs for their patients. Doctors and hospitals that make "meaningful use" of EHRs by the deadline get bonus payments from Medicare. Those that do not get diminishing Medicare payments.
What is "meaningful use"? That is at the discretion of the secretary of HHS, but the law says it will include "electronic prescribing," "the electronic exchange of health information to improve the quality of health care" and submitting information "on such clinical quality measures and such other measures as selected by the secretary."
Lastly, the law directs the secretary to ratchet up the "meaningful use" test as time goes on. Or as the "explanation" politely puts it: "The secretary would seek to improve the use of electronic health records and health care quality by requiring more stringent measures of meaningful use over time."
In other words, once the secretary has your medical file in the system, he is supposed to make your doctor do ever more with it at his command.
BUMP!
Were I paranoid, I would severely limit my use of the medical system for as long as possible.’;
I am lucky. I have very little on their records.
Does anyone remember the book from the 60s or early 70s by that nut job, Abby Hoffman? It was a sort of handbook for the radical left to undermine the “system”. We need a similar book or guide with methods on how to opt out and sabotage the new Marxism. I don’t know if it will be possible, but, I will not be giving my medical records to the feds. At some point it may be impossible to receive medical treatment unless you allow it, however.
There can be no doubt whatsoever that, wherever he is, George Orwell is getting a major chuckle out of all this.
Ping. Take yer blood pressure meds before reading this article.
This entire nightmare has to stop!!!!!
The next step is either an implanted RFID chip or a barcode tattoo, or both.
Yeah...Then we all shave our heads and wear disposable, generic coveralls, and live in bubble cities or underground. THX-1138 or Logan’s Run.
All kidding aside, I do see them asking the gun question, then placing gun owners and their families on a “high risk” list. The incentive will be to not own guns through abridging health care for gun owners.
Doesn't matter. They will get them another way.
From Article: "But if the national coordinator cannot make you -- an individual -- submit your records to the system, how is the poor guy going get "an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014"?'
"This mystery created by 139 pages in Division A is solved by the 77 pages in Division B: The secretary of health and human services is given a carrot and stick to make doctors and hospitals create EHRs for their patients. Doctors and hospitals that make "meaningful use" of EHRs by the deadline get bonus payments from Medicare. Those that do not get diminishing Medicare payments.
I argued this to practically every privacy advocate before the vote last week, and to those dems who have been big advocates of privacy (against the Patriot Act). I was blown off as just another crazy person. The ACLU patted my head and told me to go home. Even some FReepers told me I was crazy.
If the privacy portion of the Bill of Rights can be used in such a way to allow abortions, their interpretations should be used to strike down this terrible portion of the bill.
The main question in all that is happening is at what point do conservatives say “ENOUGH”?
And then take the action required to enforce that statement.
“What’s next? Tattooing a Medical ID Number on everyone? Need a method to provide the Medical ID number when there is no other means of communicating. And of course we would not want people to ‘cheat’ the system and obtain more health care then economically fair.
Now that we have the Medical ID number tattooed to our body, what else can the government use the ID to address???”
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No tattoos; they’ll use RFID or whatever is in the pipeline to relace it. Everything anyone could ever want to know about you encoded on that large-grain of silicon/electronic rice injected under the skin. The technology is already in use. Do a websearch for RFID medical records.
Welcome to your Brave New World.
The mark of the beast?
I do not know; I play for the other team, the one that did not work on that project. ;)
You may find this thought provoking:
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“Is the biochip the Mark of the Beast?
The biochip technology was originally developed in 1983 for monitoring fisheries, it’s use now includes, over 300 zoos, over 80 government agencies in at least 20 countries, pets (everything from lizards to dogs), electronic “branding” of horses, monitoring lab animals, fisheries, endangered wildlife, automobiles, garment tracking, hazardous waste, and according to the experts – humans (which we’ll examine in detail later). To date, over 7 million animals have been “chipped”. The major biochip companies are A.V.I.D. (American Veterinary Identification Devices), Trovan Identification Systems, and Destron-Fearing Corporation.
And according to most modern-day “prophecy teachers”. . . the implanted biochip is the soon-coming, 666: Mark of the Beast.
This article contains 3 parts:
Part 1: What is the biochip? Detailed description of a biochip and how it works.
Part 2: Is the biochip the Mark of the Beast? Is the biochip the technology for 666: The mark of the Beast? What saith the scriptures. . .
Part 3: Are humans being biochipped? Are humans currently being biochipped? Are there plans to biochip humans in the near future? Read what the “experts” say. We’ve listed over 30 opinions from the “experts” “
(cut)
http://www.av1611.org/666/biochip.html
is there an opt out for the emr?
Good reason to go to Mexico for your medical care.
Bump Dat...
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