[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H5969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PROTECT MEDICAL PRIVACY: REJECT BIG BROTHER

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, Big Brother is back, this time in the form 
of a previously unpublicized provision in the law that would require 
every single American to have a special identification number. That 
number would allow every notation in his or her medical record to be 
tracked. Tracked by who knows who.
  We have seen it before. We have seen it in the 1-800-Big Brother 
scheme that would require the Federal Government to sign off on each 
and every job hiring in this Nation. We have seen it in proposals for 
some sort of national ID card. Now we are witnessing an unprecedented 
attempt to invade the privacy of one's medical records.
  When most of us voted for legislation that would allow individuals to 
take their health care insurance with them when they changed jobs, we 
were not voting for a hidden provision to allow medical ID numbers.
  Let us face it, medical records are extremely sensitive. This Member 
is going to work vigorously to protect the medical privacy of every 
American. Let us reject this latest example of Big Brother.

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