[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3405-3406]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 THE RIGHT OF PRIVACY IS VIOLATED BY GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, the new health care bill is an 
invasion of people's privacy. It's another reason why we should vote it 
down. The government shouldn't be sticking its nose into people's 
medical records. It's none of the government's business. There's a 
``health care integrity data bank'' in the bill that gives the Feds 
access to everyone's medical records. Once the government has 
everybody's medical records, none of that information is secure. Health 
care information should be between the patient and the doctor--and 
that's all. Not the patient and some yet unnamed, anonymous, 
unaccountable Federal bureaucrat.
  Ask Joe the Plumber about government bureaucrats keeping personal 
information private. Joe was standing around in his front yard one day 
when the Presidential candidate walked right up to him for a little 
chat. It could have literally happened to any of us. Joe asked the 
candidate a question about ``spreading the wealth around.'' Well, some 
government bureaucrat didn't like his question. She saw it on the news. 
She took it upon herself to illegally dig up his tax records and leak 
all that information to the media.
  Giving government bureaucrats access to people's most private health 
insurance gives them opportunity to misuse that information, private 
and intimate information. The right of privacy is almost sacred, and 
this Federal Government grab of health care will eliminate medical 
privacy. Why do you think there are 111 new Federal agencies in this 
2,700-page bill? It's to administer and snoop around in the medical 
records of Americans.
  If the government health care bill passes, privacy is history. Talk 
to your doctor? The government will know about it. You have some type 
of illness or disease? The government will know. Feeling a bit 
depressed after a family death and need some medication for that 
depression? Well, the government will even know about your mental 
health issues.
  Is this the kind of information that should be in the hands of 
Federal bureaucrats? When you fill out that background information for 
your private doctor and they ask you all about the diseases and 
illnesses and medical problems you have ever had, now that formerly 
confidential information will be in the hands of Federal Government 
bureaucrats to use however they want to. That should make us all sleep 
very well tonight. Once medical records are available to the Feds, 
every government agency will be fighting for the right to get their 
hands on that information. That's the way bureaucrats

[[Page 3406]]

work, especially when every individual's health in America becomes a 
Federal budget item.

                              {time}  1945

  Every American will be required to be a part of the Big Brother 
health care database because everybody will be required to have 
government-approved health insurance plans. It's not just the medical 
records that are no longer private. Under the government takeover of 
health care, they will have a plan for the government to have access to 
your banking records as well. The law now is that government has no 
access to your finances without a court order, but under the new plan, 
the government will have access to your bank accounts to make sure 
you're paying for that government-mandated health care or paying the 
fine on that failure to have insurance.
  This 2,700-page bill gives the Feds the authority to automatically 
debit your bank account. Private medical records and bank records are 
none of the government's business. People won't talk to their doctor 
about problems anymore. They'll know somewhere in the deep, dark, dank 
dungeons of Washington, D.C., a Federal bureaucrat will be reading 
their medical records and their bank statements.
  This is all an invasion of privacy and a violation of our 
Constitution, and those who say we can trust the government to keep 
this confidential live in an ``Alice in Wonderland'' existence. This 
whole scheme is a denial of individual liberty and an attempt to make 
America another European-style nanny state where the people are mere 
subjects to an oppressive, inefficient Federal bureaucracy. This health 
care takeover by the Feds is a violation of the right of privacy for 
all Americans.
  And that's just the way it is.

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