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What's New: 2000

December 22, 2000: HHS Releases Its "Spin" on Medical Privacy Rule - The final national medical privacy rule deserves serious analysis and responsible, independent investigation by as many people and organizations as possible.
December 8, 2000: Debunking Medicare Myths: How a New Prescription Drug Program Could Affect American Taxpayers and Seniors - Do Americans want to create a safety net for the poor, or a federal program that rations prescription drugs for all American seniors?
November 16, 2000: WHO Bid To Regulate Health Sites - WHO decides what the "right" health information is? Link to international news article regarding regulation of web sites.
November 1, 2000: Medical Records: For Your Eyes Only? - An illustration.
October 26, 2000: IHF Holds Press Conference to Release Gallup Survey on Medical Privacy - "Medical research--in any shape or form--is not so lofty an activity that it can afford to disrespect the rights of patients," says Twila Brase.
September 26, 2000

Public Attitudes Toward Medical Privacy (the full report) - This report is based on the results of a survey conducted by The Gallup Organization on behalf of the Institute for Health Freedom.
Gallup Survey Finds Americans' Concern About Medical Privacy Runs Deep (IHF press release) - Key findings include: 91 percent oppose a federal requirement to assign everyone a medical identification number.
Americans Opposed to National Medical Records Database - Link to Reuters Health article (9/27/00).
September 19, 2000: Gallup Survey on Medical Privacy for Release September 26 - "...we wanted to find out how the general public views the issue [Medical Privacy]."
September 6, 2000: Motor Vehicle Administration Has Your Social Security Number . . .and With It, a Whole Lot More - All citizens should be concerned about the proliferating government efforts to obtain their Social Security Numbers (SSNs) without appropriate justification.
August 11, 2000: Congress Temporarily Halts Funding of Unique Health Identifier: Will President Clinton Sign It into Law? - Once the temporary moratorium on the Unique Health Identifier expires, Americans sooner or later will likely be assigned a tracking number to monitor their medical records electronically.
July 11, 2000: Reforming Medicare or Shifting Costs? - Was the Medicare hospital program truly reformed or were accounting gimmicks used to "save" the program?
June 14, 2000: Congress Holds Hearing on Repealing Unique Health Identifier and Limiting Use of Social Security Numbers - Imagine the potential for abuse if an unscrupulous government official is able to access one's complete medical, credit, and employment history by simply typing the citizen's 'uniform identifier' into a database.
June 5, 2000: Fall Conference on Children's Health Care Should Address Parents' Rights - Several federal programs have undoubtedly had an impact on Ritalin use in children.
May 2, 2000: White House Announces Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy - We don't limit Americans' religious freedom to government - approved denominations. We shouldn't limit their health freedom to government - approved medicine either.
April 18, 2000: Americans Respond to Medical Privacy Regulations - Over 52,000 Americans and organizations responded to proposed medical privacy regulations.
April 4, 2000: Who decides: The parents or the FDA?
March 1, 2000: Risky Medicine for the Internet - The FDA exercises strict censorship over everything manufacturers can say about their products. If FDA doesn't approve it, it is a crime to say it . . . We can only imagine the new ways FDA will devise to limit online speech and control e-commerce.
February 17, 2000: IHF's Letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala - Americans deserve to know the truth about how the proposed federal medical privacy regulations relate to the Unique Health Identifier and whether the rule will limit or increase access to individuals' personal medical information.
February 11, 2000: Stop Big Brother From Prying Into Your Medical Records - Here's a new and easy way to tell the federal government how you feel about protecting the privacy of your medical records.
February 3, 2000: What's Happening with the "Unique Health Identifier" Plan? - Isn't it ironic that some members of Congress who today push "patients' rights" actually helped pass the 1996 law that will allow the federal government to tag and track each person's medical records electronically?
February 3, 2000: Congress Holds Hearing on Medical Errors - More people die in a given year as a result of medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents.
January 4, 2000: Experimental Vaccines Can Be Administered to Military Without Consent - Not informing military personnel of their involvement in experimental medical studies is an infringement of their human rights.