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PRIVACY NEWS UPDATE
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How would you like a prospective employer to know if you
have a "genetic predisposition" to a getting a serious --
and expensive -- illness?
What if an acquaintance who worked for an insurance company
or government agency could read the private notes of your
psychotherapist, or find out if you or a family member have
ever undergone drug or alcohol treatment?
Would you want others to know whether you've ever had an
abortion or been treated for an embarrassing disease?
All of those things could happen if a regulation being
considered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services goes into effect.
I'm participating in an Internet campaign to kill this
regulation, and I'm inviting you to join me.
If we generate enough e-mail, we can bury this awful
regulation. But we need to hurry -- because the it's
scheduled to go into effect April 14, which is just two
weeks away.
Please read this short background news item, and forward
this message to any friends, family, co-workers, neighbors,
or other people you know who may be interested. Then go to
defendyourprivacy.com and sign the petition. It
will be submitted directly to your representative in the
U.S. House and to both your U.S. Senators.
BACKGROUND:
By April 14, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
Thompson must decide whether to implement the "medical
privacy" rules submitted in the waning days of the Clinton
administration. The rules, published in the Federal
Register on December 28, 2000, mandate that every doctor
and health care provider turn patient records over to the HHS and other
federal agencies for "safekeeping" -- regardless of whether patients
consent.
The government could then share those records with third
parties such as insurance companies, private marketers, and
even police agencies.
The result? Soon millions of government bureaucrats, clerks
in insurance companies, HMO's and even drug marketing companies will have
access to your confidential medical records without your permission.
Specifically, this regulation would:
* Allow the disclosure, without patient consent, of all
medical records for "public health surveillance activities"
and dozens of other purposes. Providers could refuse to treat people who
refuse to surrender their records.
* Allow private insurance companies to access the medical
information and compile it into a database.
* Permit police agencies to access medical records without a
search warrant.
* Give the government the right to access the private notes
of a psychotherapist.
* Allow foreign government officials to see Americans' health records, as
long as the U.S. government claims it is doing it for a "national health
purpose."
* Assign every American a "unique patient identifier,"
whether you want one or not, by working in conjunction with
the Health InsurancePortability and Accountability Act.
The number would be similar to a Social Security number
for medical transactions - and would make accessing an
individual's medical records as easy as running a credit
check.
* Give direct marketers access to medical records, and allow
pharmacies to share prescription records "for the purpose of
marketing health-related products and services" -- all without patient
consent.
* Prevent patients involved in health research projects from
accessing their own medical records.
The government claims it is doing this to "protect" the
privacy of your medical records. But if these regulations
go into effect, you can kiss your medical privacy goodbye.
In a free society, the government has no reason to have
copies of your private medical records, and politicians have
no right to release your medical records to others without
your consent.
But that's exactly what's going to happen, unless we can
generate enough opposition to persuade Congress to stop
these regulations from going into effect April 14th.
Please forward this e-mail to any friends, family, co-
workers, neighbors, or other people you know personally
who may be interested. However, please don't send it
indiscriminately; spam will only hurt our campaign.
Then go to our web page (http://www.defendyourprivacy.com)
and sign the petition. Thank you.
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