Remember when Knut Gingrich was in the political spot light and he abused that power? You remember why or how he abused that power? He was corrupt. I am getting to the HIPPA issue, I promise. But, Gingrich, the character issue prevails. Just that simple:
GINGRICH RESIGNS FROM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES! (click here)
"In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee" -Stated Gingrich after he finally pled guilty in January of 1997 to charges brought against him by the House Ethics Committee. According to Michael Moore, Gingrich lied 13 times to the Committee.
GINGRICH RESIGNS!!!! On Friday, November 7, 1998, Newt Gingrich resigned as House Speaker and as the Representative from Georgia's sixth district. More than likely this was a as a result of the disastrous elections held on November 3, 1998. Over the summer and early fall, while the nation was embroiled over the Clinton scandal, Republicans, Gingrich included, were predicting pickups of a few seats in the Senate and 20-30 in the House. This is not an unreasonable prediction for a midterm election. The party of the President almost always loses seats because the opposition party is more energized and excited about voting and thus has a higher turnout. However, in a highly politically charged year, Democrats turned out to vote and picked up five seats in the House and held the Senate steady. This is an enormous win, and came as a shock to almost all pundits. It hasn't happened since about 1934, and has happened only twice since the Civil War. About the only one to correctly predict the outcome was Michael Moore , who's generally not regarded as an expert in such things....
Economic Stimulus Package Could Impinge on Americans' Health Privacy (click title to entry)
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Before increasing federal spending on health IT, Congress should first fix the already-outdated 1996 HIPAA privacy rule to ensure individuals have control over their personal health information," says Sue A. Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom (IHF). "Right now, the HIPAA privacy rule has too many loopholes to ensure true patient privacy," Blevins stresses....
Our new President Elect has promised to make the health care of the USA safe. I believe him. He has my loyalty to see it through, but, we need to address issues that will be monsterous if not addressed properly. A 'HUGE' issue is 'the character' of HIPPA regulations going forward and whom indeed is 'certifying' the confidentiality of our 'electronic health record.' Certainly, NOT, Knut Gingrich (click here).
HIPPA regulations (click here) are important, especially if we are going to make our health care delivery efficient and life saving, however, it is also 'incomplete' in its legislation and endangers the 'marketability' of Americans into the job market and elsewhere.
One of the complaints of Mr. Gingrich was that the health care system as it existed in his days in Congress was not 'fixable' and therefore we had to trash it all and come up with something new. Even as a legislator he was 'setting the nation up' for exploitation by the private sector when he left Congress in disgrace to engage in that 'planned exploitation.'
There are many 'loop holes' to HIPPA and one might ask why, except, to realize those loopholes pander to Republican cronies is to realize why they exist.
Up to now, HIPPA has been 'deployed' 'willy-nilly' and without consistent understanding as it is a very complex law. But, basically it was established to permit clear, consise information to exist to facilitate 'care' for people within the health care delivery system. HIPPA was also never viewed from the standpoint that people have gone without health care and/or health care insurance. Those dynamics alone increase a spectrum of information and precautions for healthcare providers and caregivers that have to be incorporated into its legislative capacity.
HIPPA currently allows for 'sharing' of 'health information (which also needs a clear, concise definition)' to anyone that states they have a legitimate need within their capacity of the jobs they perform. That 'spectrum' of authority can include 'health departments' within corporations that have 'employee health offices' AND 'to credit agencies' within a health care facility for purposes of accuracy in billing.
As a result, when health care facilities look outside their own billing departments to resolve outstanding balances the information then goes to 'third party' companies that have no interest in maintaining health care information confidentiality. Today, when 'collection agencies' work for hospitals or doctor offices they have all the information contained in a patient's records for the purpose of collecting the debt.
Today, outside the housing crisis, the primary reason for personal bankruptcy is reason of high health care costs.
Employers can be making the biggest mistake of their careers and profitable bottom line if they don't 'look past' the health history of people that have 'dealt' with physical ailments and can bring a life philosophy, knowledge and wisdom of a career of longevity to their prospects of employment.
GINGRICH RESIGNS FROM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES! (click here)
"In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee" -Stated Gingrich after he finally pled guilty in January of 1997 to charges brought against him by the House Ethics Committee. According to Michael Moore, Gingrich lied 13 times to the Committee.
GINGRICH RESIGNS!!!! On Friday, November 7, 1998, Newt Gingrich resigned as House Speaker and as the Representative from Georgia's sixth district. More than likely this was a as a result of the disastrous elections held on November 3, 1998. Over the summer and early fall, while the nation was embroiled over the Clinton scandal, Republicans, Gingrich included, were predicting pickups of a few seats in the Senate and 20-30 in the House. This is not an unreasonable prediction for a midterm election. The party of the President almost always loses seats because the opposition party is more energized and excited about voting and thus has a higher turnout. However, in a highly politically charged year, Democrats turned out to vote and picked up five seats in the House and held the Senate steady. This is an enormous win, and came as a shock to almost all pundits. It hasn't happened since about 1934, and has happened only twice since the Civil War. About the only one to correctly predict the outcome was Michael Moore , who's generally not regarded as an expert in such things....
Economic Stimulus Package Could Impinge on Americans' Health Privacy (click title to entry)
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Before increasing federal spending on health IT, Congress should first fix the already-outdated 1996 HIPAA privacy rule to ensure individuals have control over their personal health information," says Sue A. Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom (IHF). "Right now, the HIPAA privacy rule has too many loopholes to ensure true patient privacy," Blevins stresses....
Our new President Elect has promised to make the health care of the USA safe. I believe him. He has my loyalty to see it through, but, we need to address issues that will be monsterous if not addressed properly. A 'HUGE' issue is 'the character' of HIPPA regulations going forward and whom indeed is 'certifying' the confidentiality of our 'electronic health record.' Certainly, NOT, Knut Gingrich (click here).
HIPPA regulations (click here) are important, especially if we are going to make our health care delivery efficient and life saving, however, it is also 'incomplete' in its legislation and endangers the 'marketability' of Americans into the job market and elsewhere.
One of the complaints of Mr. Gingrich was that the health care system as it existed in his days in Congress was not 'fixable' and therefore we had to trash it all and come up with something new. Even as a legislator he was 'setting the nation up' for exploitation by the private sector when he left Congress in disgrace to engage in that 'planned exploitation.'
There are many 'loop holes' to HIPPA and one might ask why, except, to realize those loopholes pander to Republican cronies is to realize why they exist.
Up to now, HIPPA has been 'deployed' 'willy-nilly' and without consistent understanding as it is a very complex law. But, basically it was established to permit clear, consise information to exist to facilitate 'care' for people within the health care delivery system. HIPPA was also never viewed from the standpoint that people have gone without health care and/or health care insurance. Those dynamics alone increase a spectrum of information and precautions for healthcare providers and caregivers that have to be incorporated into its legislative capacity.
That said, there needs to be limits placed on HIPPA's powers, especially where it currently has implications in the private sector outside the 'health care industry' in places where people find employment and credit.
HIPPA currently allows for 'sharing' of 'health information (which also needs a clear, concise definition)' to anyone that states they have a legitimate need within their capacity of the jobs they perform. That 'spectrum' of authority can include 'health departments' within corporations that have 'employee health offices' AND 'to credit agencies' within a health care facility for purposes of accuracy in billing.
As a result, when health care facilities look outside their own billing departments to resolve outstanding balances the information then goes to 'third party' companies that have no interest in maintaining health care information confidentiality. Today, when 'collection agencies' work for hospitals or doctor offices they have all the information contained in a patient's records for the purpose of collecting the debt.
Today, outside the housing crisis, the primary reason for personal bankruptcy is reason of high health care costs.
The NewStandard ceased publishing on April 27, 2007.
Health care costs main cause of personal bankruptcy, study finds (click here)
by NewStandard Staff
Feb. 4, 2005 – A study published Wednesday in the policy journal Health Affairs found that approximately half of people in the US who file for bankruptcy cite medical costs as a significant reason for their financial troubles. Based on a survey of 1,771 personal bankruptcy filers, the researchers extrapolated that between 1.9 and 2.2 million people were driven into bankruptcy because of health care costs in 2001....
Health care costs main cause of personal bankruptcy, study finds (click here)
by NewStandard Staff
Feb. 4, 2005 – A study published Wednesday in the policy journal Health Affairs found that approximately half of people in the US who file for bankruptcy cite medical costs as a significant reason for their financial troubles. Based on a survey of 1,771 personal bankruptcy filers, the researchers extrapolated that between 1.9 and 2.2 million people were driven into bankruptcy because of health care costs in 2001....
When staying alive means going bankrupt (click here)
Health insurance didn’t keep cancer-stricken California woman solvent
Health insurance didn’t keep cancer-stricken California woman solvent
By Mike Stuckey
Senior news editor
msnbc.com
updated 5:17 a.m. CT, Wed., Aug. 15, 2007
Senior news editor
msnbc.com
updated 5:17 a.m. CT, Wed., Aug. 15, 2007
In our second Gut Check America vote, readers rated health care as the issue of most concern for them. After a false start in Oregon, we found reader Kathleen Aldrich, a Lompoc, Calif., resident who wrote to us about how her battle with cancer drove her to bankruptcy, even though she had health insurance. Here is her story:
LOMPOC, Calif. - Kathleen Aldrich, financially ruined by two bouts with ovarian cancer, is not who you might assume she is.
She raised three kids as a single mom. She worked hard for years. She had good jobs. She paid her bills. She lived in a nice house and drove a nice car. She had a decent credit rating. She had health insurance.
Now she has a record of bankruptcy and is the embodiment of the fear that nags at millions of U.S. families: that they are but one medical calamity away from losing everything. Like Aldrich, they — and perhaps you — could be....
So. What has occurred under HIPPA is an exploitation of American's Personal Health Information because of the victimology of our health care industry.
She raised three kids as a single mom. She worked hard for years. She had good jobs. She paid her bills. She lived in a nice house and drove a nice car. She had a decent credit rating. She had health insurance.
Now she has a record of bankruptcy and is the embodiment of the fear that nags at millions of U.S. families: that they are but one medical calamity away from losing everything. Like Aldrich, they — and perhaps you — could be....
So. What has occurred under HIPPA is an exploitation of American's Personal Health Information because of the victimology of our health care industry.
It can be easily stated, that the 'lady' soon to be our Secretary of State was absolutely correct from the beginning when she as First Lady tried to find a way to provide health care to the nation.
Now, only eight short years after the end of the Clinton White House, we are facing some of the most dire circumstances this country has ever had. If we had 'backed Hillary' as a nation and demanded her healthcare directive be met, we would not be standing on soggy ground as a fiscally challeged nation. Now, would we?
But to be more specific in the legislative needs for HIPPA, there has to be a limit on the 'sharing' of the personal health information of any person to 'others' outside a treating facility or office. There has to be a limit on the accessibility of health records before employment regardless of any demands for a physical exam by employers and there has to be expunged from any 'fair credit report' mention of health care information, while realizing 'life insurance' is a completely different issue.
And in realizing life insurance is a separate issue there also has to be an understanding that 'attaching' a casual 'life insurance provision' to a credit card or credit loan is NOT authority to exploit the HIPPA system that is supposed to improve health information portability to INSURE people live through any emergency, surgery or treatment.
In the case of a "Pre-employment physical" or "Pre-Life Insurance Physical" that needs to be conducted by a physician that works for the facility and limited to the information they find 'upon' performing that physical without diving into past history or other information from prior treating facilities. The 'decline' of employment or life insurance (which is a valuable way for Americans to rebuild their nation and family security) has to be based upon 'findings' and not history.
Why?
Simple.
The American health care system is incredible. There are people with 'new knees and hips' that improve their lives and expand their ability to work and enjoy life. There are life saving cancer treatments and surgeries that should return Americans to a life of enjoyment and prosperity. We need to be 'participating' in our democracy and supporting our tax base, we can't do that if we are left 'outside' the loop of employment and purchasing power.
Employers can be making the biggest mistake of their careers and profitable bottom line if they don't 'look past' the health history of people that have 'dealt' with physical ailments and can bring a life philosophy, knowledge and wisdom of a career of longevity to their prospects of employment.
In the same manner a USA national health care delivery system would remove ANY incentive for employers to 'discriminate' regarding health issues to keep health care costs down or provide health care as a benefit at all.
HIPPA is to have one purpose and one purpose only and that is to expedite excellant care to the people of this nation that pay the taxes and support the USA treasury, hence, patriotically supporting their country.
To that end, we need trustworthy people to provide 'electronic portability' to a nation of deserving people that made the 'best and correct decision' in November of 2008.
