NEW US Healthcare Initiatives (...yeah...right...)

There is now another healthcare plan being proposed. The center point of this plan is to keep the government from totally controlling healthcare. This plan uses the availability of a government plan as well as private insurance. But, there is one small detail…

Every American would be required to have some form of public or private health insurance, and one choice would be a new nationwide government program for anyone under 65, the age when eligibility for the existing Medicare program begins.

Can someone please tell me the difference? Either way, the government is in control and be in the insurance business, making it one more Nationalized industry.

Speaking of which, did anyone else notice the report about exceptions allowing the sale of your medical records included in the Stimulus Bill?

Though the legislation says there is a “prohibition on sale of electronic health records or protected health information,” there are five pages of exceptions to the prohibition that include research, treatment of an individual, or a decision by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive the prohibition.

Now, I understand the need for combining data for research and so forth. But, since when does that involve SALE of data? And, since when has that involved the inclusion of personal and private information?

(…does anyone still believe the government respects your rights of privacy?...)