Cherry's Jubilee
05-19-2008, 12:22 PM
Sponsors of the Wired for Health Care Quality Act (Kennedy (D-MA and 15 Co-Sponsors) are pushing their bill through the Senate via the "unanimous consent" calendar. In English, this means that this week the bill will be voted on, as is, with no debate and no amendments. Link to the bill:
1693 (http://www.patientprivacyrights.org/site/R?i=2UADGMkAM-bk1Ur7AGhc4g..)http://www.patientprivacyrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Legislation#1693
The "Wired Act" sets up a national Health IT system for electronic health records with very few privacy protections. The bill will open Americans to widespread discrimination: Employers can deny promotions or jobs, insurers can set rates higher or even deny coverage, schools can refuse admission to students based on illnesses or banks could refuse loans or charge more for credit.
Please let your Senators know you care about your health privacy. Use your voice to influence this urgent issue. No one should have to choose between privacy and health.
Click on this link:
https://secure2.convio.net/appf/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr007=xvfyk2by64.app2b&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=171to to send a letter to your Senators asking them to vote AGAINST the "Wired Act" and prevent rampant discrimination.
Links to the bill and its history are on the Patient Privacy Rights website:
http://www.patientprivacyrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Homepage
What the "Wired Act" does:
Promotes adoption of a nationwide interoperable health IT system
Establishes a public-private partnership to recommend standards for Health IT with just one consumer representative.
Asks another group (American Health Information Community) to provide advice about policy on privacy and security. Again, there is just one place for a consumer representative who will have no power.
Federal funds will only be awarded to vendors that implement the standards determined by these groups. There is nothing to ensure that privacy protections will be up front.
Provides grants to entities and states to adopt Health IT. If policies don't protect our privacy and prevent discrimination, these grants make the problem worse.
Provides grants for massive research and databases for "quality" measures to target those with chronic illnesses; without privacy this detailed information can cause real harm to our sickest Americans.
An electronic health records system would have a dramatic impact:
allow the sale of your medical data
limit your consent rights
abolish and prohibit real privacy laws
expand access to your data
enable tracking of you and your doctors
enable data mining, patient profiling and data linking
This is serious shit for us opiophiles, and will give the government vast control over our privacy, our health care, our medication, and ultimately US.
1693 (http://www.patientprivacyrights.org/site/R?i=2UADGMkAM-bk1Ur7AGhc4g..)http://www.patientprivacyrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Legislation#1693
The "Wired Act" sets up a national Health IT system for electronic health records with very few privacy protections. The bill will open Americans to widespread discrimination: Employers can deny promotions or jobs, insurers can set rates higher or even deny coverage, schools can refuse admission to students based on illnesses or banks could refuse loans or charge more for credit.
Please let your Senators know you care about your health privacy. Use your voice to influence this urgent issue. No one should have to choose between privacy and health.
Click on this link:
https://secure2.convio.net/appf/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr007=xvfyk2by64.app2b&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=171to to send a letter to your Senators asking them to vote AGAINST the "Wired Act" and prevent rampant discrimination.
Links to the bill and its history are on the Patient Privacy Rights website:
http://www.patientprivacyrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Homepage
What the "Wired Act" does:
Promotes adoption of a nationwide interoperable health IT system
Establishes a public-private partnership to recommend standards for Health IT with just one consumer representative.
Asks another group (American Health Information Community) to provide advice about policy on privacy and security. Again, there is just one place for a consumer representative who will have no power.
Federal funds will only be awarded to vendors that implement the standards determined by these groups. There is nothing to ensure that privacy protections will be up front.
Provides grants to entities and states to adopt Health IT. If policies don't protect our privacy and prevent discrimination, these grants make the problem worse.
Provides grants for massive research and databases for "quality" measures to target those with chronic illnesses; without privacy this detailed information can cause real harm to our sickest Americans.
An electronic health records system would have a dramatic impact:
allow the sale of your medical data
limit your consent rights
abolish and prohibit real privacy laws
expand access to your data
enable tracking of you and your doctors
enable data mining, patient profiling and data linking
This is serious shit for us opiophiles, and will give the government vast control over our privacy, our health care, our medication, and ultimately US.