[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 51 (Wednesday, April 14, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H1977]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HCFA HOME HEALTH CARE ASSESSMENT UNDERMINES PRIVACY OF AMERICANS

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, now the big government bureaucrats in the 
Clinton administration have decided they do care about the privacy 
rights of the American people after all. Just 14 days before 9,000 home 
health care providers are to begin submitting the personal medical 
information of millions of Americans to the Federal Government, we 
learn in the Washington Post that the Health Care Financing 
Administration has decided to review the program's privacy 
implications, something which should have been considered long before 
this misguided regulation ever saw the light of day.
  Is this newfound concern for privacy going to prevent the 
administration from prying into the lives of innocent Americans and 
creating a Federal database of their medical information? Sadly, the 
answer to that question, Mr. Speaker, is no. The administration is 
simply delaying the ultimate submission of the data to the Federal 
Government.
  The home health care providers are still expected to conduct the 19-
page assessment of each page, including private questions concerning 
the patient's sense of failure or socially inappropriate behavior. Let 
us put an end to this outrageous conduct.

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