Posted on 07/03/2014 2:09:23 AM PDT by markomalley
When the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” passed, the end of doctor-patient confidentiality was predictable -- but we could not have expected it to happen this soon. ObamaCare, with the aid of hospitals, insurers, banks, and private data managers, is initiating a program to track store and credit card purchases to see if people are telling the truth about their lifestyle choices.
Some troubling realities have been revealed in a recent Bloomberg article.
First, the idea that the hospitals, at government direction, are doing it for our own good so it’s okay. It reminds me of Reagan’s most terrifying nine words in the English language, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” There was a time when responsible journalists would not accept this so blindly.
Second, that the information retrieved without our knowledge or approval is subject to doctor-patient confidentiality. With ObamaCare it’s easy to assume that there is no such thing anymore. Now we have doctor-patient-government confidentiality -- and yes, “government confidentiality” is an oxymoron.
So let’s get one thing straight: With the federal government takeover of the health care industry under ObamaCare, today Doctor=Hospital=Insurance Company=Government. By virtue of controlling the purse strings, the first three are beholden to the fourth.
The reality is that any personal physician can size up a person’s lifestyle choices in five minutes of face-to-face contact. A few simple questions and a good look a person’s body style, skin, face, hands, eyes, ears and mouth along with a quick check of heart rate, blood pressure, and the smell of their breath can tell a doctor everything about a person’s lifestyle that a government data dump and some computer algorithms might try to construe. The only reason for the government to be doing this is so that…
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
My recommendation is that we limit the size of government. I'd rather have more guns, more ammo, more freedom, and less government. And I already limit my electronic footprint in terms of purchases of interest to big government liberals that can be traced to me.
This is another area the GOP should hammer away at.
.
ping
I went to my doctor the other day and guess what? I had to have my picture taken. They said it was part of the new wonderful medical system the Marxist in chief put into place.
Isn’t America wonderful? You have to have your picture taken as part of your medical profile but you don’t have to have any type of visual ID to vote for the communists you put into office.
America: RIP 2008.
Americans pretty much regard government as god. There source, their provider, their comforter and protector. So it follows that their god should know it all. King George, whom we celebrate our liberation from tomorrow, was a wild-eyed libertarian compared to any of today’s politicians. And Americans beg for more. Just yesterday some folks here were saying that White House employees and the President (!) were underpaid.
My local clinic asked me to put my thumb on a print scanner. I told the lady that whoever decided I needed to give them fingerprints can kiss my ass and refused. She told me I was not the first to take such a stand.
So now all the doctors and nurses will look just like postal workers.
Hear hear!
One of the roots of such wasteful, foolish, thuggish, and tyrannous government is the ease with which it can create almost unlimited amounts of money out of thin air. Near-infinite money buys near-infinite government, and a bureaucracy that is generously funded can entertain an open-ended dream about how to expand its realm.
Every day more people are coming to the judgment that a carefully organized effort to repair the constitution via the States’ power to propose and ratify amendments has less risk to our liberty and prosperity than the present trajectory of the federal government and especially the federal bureaucracy.
The first order of business of an Article V Convention must be to limit government’s ability to create and spend near-infinite amounts of money.
I had to have a photo ID to get a stinking Library card last week.
This is a lot more than 'a violation of patient confidentiality.'
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.