|
(click on ads for more
details)
|
|
Subject:
Privacy News Update
===============================
PRIVACY NEWS UPDATE
===============================
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 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 http://www.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 Insurance
Portability 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.
===============================
|
