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June 5, 2001


The recent change in the U.S. Senate leadership dramatically increases the importance of repealing by June 15, 2001 the so-called federal medical privacy rule that was promulgated by the Clinton administration.  Our window of opportunity is quickly closing and Senators Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton will soon start working aggressively to keep it from opening again.

The much-touted federal medical privacy rule is a 367-page sham on the American people and as time passes, more people are realizing just how dangerous this 367-page monster is.

On February 9, 2000, we alerted you to the fact that your private medical records and those of your children will soon be an open file - without your consent or knowledge.  Thousands of you sent comments to Health and Human Services objecting to this dangerous rule.  On June 14, 2000, Congressman Ron Paul introduced an amendment to a Labor-H.H.S. appropriations bill that would temporarily withhold funding for the creation and implementation of the "unique health identifier." Dr. Paul's amendment was accepted due to your efforts at the time.  However, on October 13, 2001, our success with the Paul amendment was threatened.  A conference committee was planning to remove the Paul amendment at the last minute.  However, due to your quick action, the threat was squelched.

On March 15, 2001, Congressman Paul submitted H.J. Res. 38 to outright repeal the so-called federal medical privacy rule because of it being such an enormous sham on the American people.  Dr. Paul submitted H.J. Res. 38 under the Congressional Review Act of 1996.  The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to repeal, within 90 days, a federal agency's regulation by bypassing the normal time-consuming and cumbersome legislative procedures. In other words, H.J. Res. 38 can bypass the normal House committee process and go to the House floor for a vote and, if passed by the House, it will bypass the Senate committee process as well and go to the Senate floor for a vote.

If H.J. Res. 38 doesn't pass by June 15th, it can only be resubmitted as a standard bill; thus being subject to the normal legislative process – and that is when Senators Kennedy and Clinton come into play.  When the U.S. Senate changes its leadership, Senator Kennedy will become the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Senator Hillary Clinton will be a majority member of that committee.  Senator Kennedy's committee, with Senator Hillary Clinton as one of its members, will be the Senate committee that has jurisdiction on any bill that would attempt to repeal the federal medical privacy rule - the very medical privacy rule that Senators Kennedy and Clinton have worked so hard to create and implement.  The very two people who created the monster that we are trying to slay are now going to be in a strong position to protect their monster from harm.

Keep in mind that Senator Kennedy, in 1973, was instrumental in creating health maintenance organization (HMOs.)  Senator Kennedy touted HMOs as the way to lower the cost and improve the quality of health care in the U.S. How many people believe that has happened?  Keep in mind that he and Mrs. Hillary Clinton, in 1996, were instrumental in designing and passing Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) and it was HIPAA that later spawned the now-famous, so-called federal medical privacy rule that we've been fighting against.  How many people believe their health insurance is now more portable and accountable?  By the way, if you thought the infamous Clinton Health Security Act of 1992-93 (commonly known as Hillary Care) with its socialized prescription of assigning a  "unique health identifier" to every man, woman, and child; of creating a government-sanctioned national medical database; of rationing health care, etc. died, then think again.  HIPAA, passed in 1996, is Hillary Care – alive and well!

Congressman Ron Paul hosted a briefing about the federal medical privacy rule for congressional staff on May 16, 2001 so they could learn how sham the privacy rule really is.  Dr. Paul asked Sue Blevins the president of the Institute for Health Freedom to speak to the congressional staff members. Fifty-one staff members attended.  Ms. Blevins, a registered nurse and health policy expert, has actually read and studied the 367-page federal medical privacy rule.  She told the audience that the so-called medical privacy rule actually weakens a person's ability to control access to their medical records while giving the federal government and its agents greater authority to access to a person's medical records - without patient consent!

Sue Blevins characterized HIPAA and the resulting federal medical privacy rule as being the most sweeping, government-devised change of health care in our country's history; even more sweeping than the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid and HMOs.  Ms. Blevins gave each staff member a briefing book documenting her findings and conclusions as a result of her study of the 367-page rule.  You can read this same briefing book and  Ms. Blevins' outstanding summary title "Myths & Facts" by clicking
http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/Publicati

ons/Privacy/MedPrivLinks.html .

The so-called federal medical privacy rule will give us dramatically less control over the privacy of our personal medical records than we have now and give the federal government and authorized third parties more access to our most personal information WITHOUT our consent.  Examples of third parties and purposes for which access to our records is permitted include:

1. Oversight of the health care system.
2. FDA monitoring (including dietary supplements).
3. Public health surveillance and activities.
4. Foreign governments collaborating with U.S. public health officials.
5. Research (if an Institutional Review Board or privacy board waives
consent).
6. Law enforcement activities.
7. Judicial and administrative proceedings.
8. HHS-Office of Civil Rights.

"The regulations also permit doctors and health plans to release intimate medical records to government agencies for almost any purpose, reversing the old presumption that release is unethical unless required by law," wrote Brigid McMenamin in "Prescription for Snooping - New Medical Privacy Rules Will Only Open More Files to Unwarranted View, " Forbes, May 28, 2001.

We must continue our work and see that the U.S. House vote on H.J. Res. 38 no later than June 15, 2001.  House Speaker Dennis Hastert can make it happen.  He can schedule a vote on H.J. Res. 38 and that is what we are asking him to do.

Contact Speaker Hastert in one or both of the following ways:
1.  Sign a petition at
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/med

privacypetition.htm .
Petitions are delivered daily to Speaker Hastert's office.
2.  Call Speaker Hastert's office at 202-225-0600.

Our window of opportunity is closing and there are those that will work to keep it closed.  Please sign a petition now and call Speaker Hastert's office to ask him to schedule a vote on H.J. Res. 38.

Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org