Thanks to all of your responses in Feb., we have postponed the Clinton administration’s leftover medical "privacy" regulations that would give the federal government unprecedented access to our personal medical records.
But We Haven't Won Yet!
Last month, you shut down the email server at the Department of Health and Human Services with your responses. Now we have to do the same with snail mail. (Instructions at www.aapsonline.org ; click on "Privacy Regulations: More Action Needed by March 30," at top left-hand side of site.)
HHS Secretary Thompson has extended the public comment period through March 30, 2001, and will decide by April 14 whether the rules will go into effect.
We must show how much the public opposes these rules.
Why These Rules Must Be Scrapped!
Masquerading as "medical privacy protection," these rules were written to fulfill the "Administrative Simplification" section of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. "Administrative simplification" is a concept and term carried over from Hillary’s Health Care Task Force and the failed ClintonCare plan for government control of medicine and medical records.
This 1,500 page document is a direct result of the Clinton view that the government should control every aspect of our medical care. It is a desperate, last-ditch effort to set the stage for Hillary’s vision of socialized medicine and eliminate your privacy.
Public comments must be received by HHS via MAIL by March 30, 2001.
The address, sample comments and action steps are posted at www.aapsonline.org. (Look for "Privacy Regulations: More Action Needed by March 30," at top left-hand side of site.)
The clock is ticking!
In a matter of just weeks, by April 14, Sec. of Health & Human Services Tommy Thompson will decide whether new federal rules - imposed by Bill Clinton by executive order in the last weeks of his administration - will go into effect.
These outrageous rules will give millions of government bureaucrats, clerks in insurance companies, HMOs and even drug marketing companies access to your confidential medical records without your permission.
If these regulations go into effect, you can kiss your medical privacy goodbye.
Under the new regulations, your medical records must be turned over to the government, where they will permanently be kept on file - in effect, creating a lifetime government medical history on every American.
Let me explain briefly how these new regulations came about.
In the closing days of the Clinton administration, Bill Clinton snuck into the federal register - over last Christmas holiday when no one was paying attention - over 368 pages of new federal rules regarding the privacy of your medical records.
In true Orwellian fashion, in the name of "protecting your privacy," Clinton abolished the privacy of all medical records from government.
Here is what the new Clinton rules would mean for you:
Dozens of government agencies and tens of thousands of bureaucrats will have access to your medical files - even if you paid for the services.
The government will have full access to all electronic stored medical records - including the private notes of psychiatrists.
Without your consent, government can release your medical records to others, including insurance companies, drug manufacturers, and other "third parties" - all without your consent!
Your personal, genetic DNA code will be registered with the government and could eventually be incorporated into a national ID card.
Whether you like it or not, you will be assigned a "unique health identifier," which will be used to track your medical history from birth until death.
If you try to block government access to your medical files, your doctor can be fined or even ordered by government agents to refuse to provide you with medical care. If you demand that your doctor not share your files without your permission, he can refuse you medical treatment.
These new Clinton "medical privacy" regulations are not new. Remember Hillary's failed Health Care Plan? That plan tried to gain government access to your medical records as well.
But the Clintons didn't give up. At the last minute, they underhandedly tried to make law what Congress and the people said "NO" to.
If they are not stopped soon, at the push of a button, IRS agents, the DEA, local police, insurance companies, and others will have access to every detail of your medical history and the medical history of every member of your family.
Government bureaucrats and police will know if anyone in your family has ever had a drinking problem, used illegal drugs, had an abortion, been treated by a psychiatrist, suffered from impotence, or a sexually-transmitted disease, or some other embarrassing medical condition.
Imagine if a nosy neighbor who was a government official wanted to do some snooping on you. We also know how easily government officials and others "leak" confidential information... you could be a target.
The new "no privacy" laws will also destroy trust between you and your doctor.
The new "no privacy" regulations sound like something you would expect in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. But unless we act IMMEDIATELY, in less than 30 days, they will be the law of the land in America.
In just a few weeks, the comment period expires, and Sec. Thompson - Pres. Bush's new secretary of Health and Human Services - says he will then make his final decision. There is enormous pressure on Thompson by big insurance companies and HMOs to keep the Clinton rules and sadly the Bush administration has said nothing to indicate that it will block Clinton's rules.
So you have very little time to act if you wish to preserve your medical privacy.
You might think that the mainstream media would be shouting as loud as possible about this huge and urgent threat to your medical privacy. But the shocking reality is that liberal media LOVES the idea of government control of your health care - including unlimited government access to your medical records.
That's why you haven't heard a word about it in your local newspaper.
The big media has kept the lid on the fact that the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), one of the nation's most respected organizations of doctors, has sent an urgent advisory to their membership and the press warning them about the dangers of the new Clinton rules.
Fortunately, the establishment media is no longer the only game in town.
We urgently need your help to stop the Clinton "no-privacy" laws by alerting the great majority of the American people who have heard nothing about them. If enough Americans can be informed quickly, we can still stop the Clinton rules before your medical privacy is eliminated.
Here is what you can do NOW to protect your medical records:
FIRST, file an urgent petition with Sec. Thompson, Pres. Bush and every member of Congress, and the Senate.
We have created a special program where we can blast all of Washington with hard copies of your petition, which we will hand deliver to Sec. Thompson and every member of Congress.
This effort is taken more seriously by politicians than e-mails or phone calls, although those help too and you should use them as well.
SECOND, help us launch our national emergency awareness campaign - "Protect Medical Privacy" - by helping us buy ads that will appear in major newspapers throughout America, on major Internet sites, and - if we receive enough support - on scores of radio stations.
We have very little time left and we urgently need your help.
Please fill out your Emergency Response Form and Petition today: http://www.newsmaxstore.com/med_petition/?RefID=mr