Washington, DC- Congressman Ron Paul continued his fight against government invasions of medical privacy this week, by opposing the implementation of medical ID numbers that threaten the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship. A provision introduced by Congressman Paul in an appropriations bill will prohibit the Department of Health and Human Services from using taxpayer money to create a so-called “unique health identifier.”

Paul believes medical ethics, rather than federal rules and regulations, should govern the doctor-patient relationship- as they have for hundreds of years. Patients have long enjoyed complete confidentiality with their doctors, but federal law and managed care systems now threaten to erase medical privacy altogether. Medical ID numbers represent the next step toward that loss of privacy.

Paul, a physician for nearly 40 years who still practices medicine, knows the critical importance of doctor-patient confidentiality. “Patients are not numbers to be tracked,” he stated. “They are individuals with unique concerns, who don’t want their private and sensitive health information made widely available. Medical ID numbers will be used to create a centralized database that destroys the last vestiges of patient privacy.”

‘The federal government has no business making private health information easily available without patient consent,” Paul continued. “Government health ID numbers, like Social Security numbers, will be subject to tremendous abuse. A national medical ID number would make it far too easy for big insurance carriers, pharmaceutical companies, HMO bureaucrats, and federal regulators to access information that should be kept private.”

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