[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 39 (Thursday, March 11, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H1175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H1175]]
                          BIG BROTHER IS BACK

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, they are at it again. We learned this 
morning from The Washington Post that those big government loving 
bureaucrats in the Clinton administration are up to their old tricks 
again. When we last heard from our friends in the Federal health care 
data collection business, they were attempting to carry out a little 
known provision in the law that would require every single American to 
have a special identification number so that their medical records 
could be tracked by the government.
  Now we learn that the administration seeks to create a new database 
that would collect personal information about millions of Americans who 
receive in-home benefits under the Medicare program. Under the guise of 
improving service, the Clinton administration intends to conduct a 19-
page assessment of each patient, including questions concerning the 
patient's sense of failure, or socially inappropriate behavior.
  Enough already. Let us put a stop to this nonsense before it begins. 
Let us protect the privacy of millions of Americans. Let us once again 
say no to Big Brother.

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