Voice For Voters

By Elois Zeanah

BEWARE:  Government can grab your bank account, your car, even put a lien on your home.  You thought an IRS audit was as scary as it gets?  It will no longer be just your tax filing that the roving eyes of the IRS can access.  It’s your bank accounts, both checking and savings; it’s the worth of your house and how much the government can take if a lien is needed to pay the government for your share of health care.  The government can even seize your car. 

Ah, yes, the “Repo Man” will have a new client:  The U.S. Government, dear ol’ Uncle Sam himself.  After all, these economic times scream for ways to create jobs, and the health care bill could boost the economy big time.  Repossession companies will no longer have to look to just banks, auto dealerships and loan agencies for work.   Big Government rides to the rescue again.  If ObamaCare (or maybe it will now be called KennedyCare) passes, you will be forced to buy insurance one way or another.  The IRS and the “Repo Man” will collect every last dime you owe government to take care of you.  You may hide from other debtors but there’s no hiding from the government.   

Privacy is Passé Under HB3200 

If you think your rights to privacy are protected by the U.S. Constitution, my advice is:  “Get over it!”  Here’s how government plans to take your liberties and invade your privacy.  (This is just a few ways; more will be revealed in future articles.) 

Financial and Health Records can be Viewed by Thousands of Bureaucrats  

• Section 431(a):  “The IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and ‘other information prescribed by’ regulation.  That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for ‘affordability credits.’”[1]

• Section 245(b)(2)(A):  “The IRS must divulge tax return details – there’s no specified limit on what’s available or unavailable – to the Health Choices Commissioner.  The purpose is to verify “affordability credits.”[2]

• Section 1801(a):  “The Social Security Administration can obtain tax return data on anyone who may be eligible for a ‘low-income prescription drug subsidy’ but has not applied for it.”[3]  They’ll check to see whether you qualify by getting your tax data.

Thousands of government employees can assess your records.  “The privacy of your health records will be only as good as the most nosy, most dishonest and most malcontented federal employee….So say good-bye to privacy from the federal government.  It was fun while it lasted for 233 years.”[4]   

And, by the way, remember that $700 billion Stimulus Bill that was rushed through before the public or the people who voted on it could read it?  This “emergency” bill “mandated the ‘utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014,’ but included only limited privacy protections.”[5]  

It’s logical, is it not, that the government needs to overrun your liberties and your individual privacy to make sure that you’re not frauding the government out of it’s just due to provide you health care?  The only way to know you’re not abusing your new entitlement to health care is to protect society from you. 

The Electronic Privacy Information Center opposes this invasion into our personal lives and violation of our right to privacy.  Marc Rotenberg writes:  “We would oppose section 431(a) of the bill because it violates the intent of the Privacy Act which generally requires agencies to obtain information directly from individuals and not from other agencies.”   Should you get your Members of Congress onboard as well?  Or does it really matter who knows the most intimate details of our financial and health records?  After all, Uncle Sam loves us all so very much, he wants to take good care of us; and that means we have to give up something to Uncle Sam in return so he can control our affairs.

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[1] “Democratic Health Care Bill Divulges IRS Tax Data – Taking Liberties,” by Declain McCullagh, CBS News, August 26, 2009

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.  Quote from Tom Giovanetti, Institute for Policy Innovation (a free-market think-tank).

[5] Ibid.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Health Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.