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Taking Liberties
Taking LibertiesAugust 26, 2009 8:26 PM Democratic Health Care Bill Divulges IRS Tax Data =================================================
Posted by Declan McCullagh 279 comments Share
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(AP)One of the problems with any proposed law that's over 1,000 pages long and constantly changing is that much deviltry can lie in the details. Take the Democrats' proposal to rewrite health care policy, better known as H.R. 3200 or by opponents as "Obamacare." (Here's our CBS News television coverage.) Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and "other information as is 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."
Section 245(b)(2)(A) says 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, again, is to verify "affordability credits." Section 1801(a) says that 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.
Over at the Institute for Policy Innovation (a free-market think tank and presumably no fan of Obamacare), Tom Giovanetti argues that: "How many thousands of federal employees will have access to 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." I'm not as certain as Giovanetti that this represents privacy's Armageddon. (Though I do wonder where the usual suspects like the Electronic Privacy Information Center are. Presumably inserting limits on information that can be disclosed -- and adding strict penalties on misuse of the information kept on file about hundreds of millions of Americans -- is at least as important as fretting about Facebook's privacy policy in Canada.)
A better candidate for a future privacy crisis is the so-called stimulus bill enacted with limited debate early this year. It mandated the "utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014," but included only limited privacy protections. It's true that if the legislative branch chooses to create "affordability credits," it probably makes sense to ensure they're not abused. The goal of curbing fraud runs up against the goal of preserving individual privacy.
If we're going to have such significant additional government intrusion into our health care system, we will have to draw the privacy line somewhere. Maybe the House Democrats' current bill gets it right. Maybe it doesn't. But this vignette should be reason to be skeptical of claims that a massive and complex bill must be enacted as rapidly as its backers would have you believe. Update August 27 11 a.m: Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center says in e-mail: "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." EPIC still hasn't updated their Web site to reflect this sentiment, but it's good to know that other folks have concerns too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Declan McCullagh is a correspondent for CBSNews.com. He can be reached at declan@cbsnews.com. You can bookmark the Taking Liberties site here, or subscribe to the RSS feed.
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by JourneyHomeBurke March 18, 2010 1:20 PM EDT
Healthcare is easy - here's how -
?Use Senate reconciliation and expand Medicare via the Senate?s
buy-in provisions. The CBO has already signed off on this as a
means of saving money.More importantly, if more Americans can do a buy-in with Medicare, it creates more cost control (because there?s a genuine competitor to for-profit healthcare). It also helps to solve the problems of pre-existing conditions, because Medicare does not deny coverage on this basis.
Allowing a Medicare buy-in to Americans under 65 would give people a genuine alternative to private insurance and thereby render the pre-existing question moot. It would also lower Medicare costs by expanding the risk pool of patients (the great bulk of medical expenses are accounted for by a small number of people, mostly the elderly, requiring very expensive treatment).
And it would substantially enhance the global competitiveness of American corporations. After all, in what other country in the world is health care a marginal cost of production for business?? - Roosevelt Institute Marshall Auerback Now get out there tell your neighbors, your friends, pick up the phone and email your representatives - because whether you like it or not we are all in this together - and it's us versus the politicians - not each other.
Paul Burke Author Journey Home Democracy For America Reply to this comment
by 001aram November 23, 2009 7:52 AM EST
Great posting. Thanks of shairing this.
Regard
http://www.firstpointhealthcare.com/Reply to this comment
by rafirebird November 14, 2009 5:13 PM EST
Sure, Bush didn't do all the right things. But to say they are
all the same is not very intelligent.Reagan and Carter lead this
country from very opposite ends of the spectrum. No president
can successfully reform health care without first shoring up the
economy.Reply to this comment
by doneourpart September 21, 2009 3:05 PM EDT
One other thing,the hospitals in our area have you and your
family fill out the Health Care Directive and the D.N.R. when
you are admitted,I am not aware of any charge for this. This is
S.O.P.,unless you have already had this drawn up by your lawyer.
We did all of this when we had our wills drawn up. We were in
our late 40's and wanted to make sure everyone who should make
life and death decisions for us could. We DID NOT need a
politican to tell us to do this.Reply to this comment
by doneourpart September 21, 2009 2:40 PM EDT
Not one of our Doctors are for this plan, I've asked all of
them.
Al so I believe the will be no money in banks around the country
once people wake up and see that nothing is private anymore.Reply to this comment
by Real Freedom September 10, 2009 3:36 AM EDT
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is
strong enough to take everything you have".
Thomas JeffersonI love these Wingnuts who come on public sites claiming that they know all about American history and the founding fathers, and then follow their messages with quotes they attribute to founders like Jefferson. And get it wrong. This is a Gerald Ford quote, not a Thomas Jefferson quote. If you find a few of these you actually figure out what web sites the person is reading.
Reply to this comment
by rexrox2 September 4, 2009 11:00 PM EDT
If you,(CBS)start right now, and begin to do the public's work
and investigate all these czars, you may be able to save your
"NEWS" organization and not go down with OBAMA,NBC,ABC,CNN,MSNBC
et.al. To have Van Jones be working,correct that, leading the
GREENS in the WHITE HOUSE,and only FOX and Lou Dobbs are willing
to even bring it up?? A blind man can see that bias. All of you
blocked any attempt to tie OBAMA to Ayres, Wright, and that
whole group. Now the CHICKENS ARE COMING HOME TO ROOST. All of
you are going to pay a very dear price. You left journalism for
FULL-TIME ADVOCACY. This is SO HISTORIC,YOU ALL SAID,and you
were right, but for a whole set of reasons you didn't think
would ever come out. The people of this country would have loved
for OBAMA to be the kind of president you convinced us he was,
but alas, he's the radical he has always been.Reply to this comment
by proudscot September 8, 2009 4:53 PM EDT
and what's wrong with being radical dipwad? Radical gave
you independence. Radical is not some filthy commie word
and if radical is Obama's ideas for health reform and less
people die because of it, well radical is good.
Here's a radical little plan. How about spending less
blowing people to bits and more saving lives Retard!by trinket59 September 3, 2009 5:29 PM EDT
HR 3200 Section 1173A (pg. 58) gives the government real-time
access to our financial accounts.
In addition, it exempts the government's current legal
requirement, under Chapter 35, Title 44, to protect our records
with regard to privacy, security and access as follows: Section
1152 (pg. 304), Section 1221 (pg. 404), Section 1301 (pg. 455),
and Section 1866E (pg. 476).If you want to confirm this for yourself, search "energy and commerce hr3200". The house energy and commerce committee should be your first choice. Here you will find the full text of the bill in addition to all amendments considered. Reply to this comment
by Kewlbreeze12 September 3, 2009 9:24 AM EDT
Just a few simple questions for this august crowd of experts:
1> Why is there no tort reform in the house bill?
2> Who do we sue for malpractice under the house bill - since
there is no tort reform (did you know you have to have the
government?s approval to sue them)?
3>Does it bother you the IRS will be giving personal
financial info to the Czar or Czarina of Health or to a
healthcare panel? Wonder what they will do with that info? Never
use it for political purposes - right???
4> Is this debate about healthcare reform, healthcare
insurance reform or is it about political power?
5> why should community organizations be funded in a
healthcare bill?
6> Why is there a special group set up just to watch out for
minorities in the House bill?
7> if our system is soooo bad, why do so many people from
other countries where they have some form of government paid
healthcare come here for healthcare?
8> Let's say it all passes just the way the majority on this
thread wants - and say, one of you gets the bad news your life
is not worth the expense it will take to make you well
(rationing ? duh!!!!) - please tell me what will you do? Go
home, take an aspirin and die (this is what Joe says is a "good
American") or would you hop a plane and go to WDC and see your
local congressmen and see if he would go to bat for you with the
Czar or Czarina or the healthcare panel? Now, of course he would
want a fat contribution to his re-election fund ? of course, you
will have to pay it ? and, of course, the level of his effort
might just be tied to the amount you give - but he truly
appreciates anything you can do for him ? he is, after all, just
a struggling politician who can barely makes ends meet. Now,
there are no guarantees he will be successful with the panel -
but he will do his best or so he says..... Having lobbied in WDC
for 8 years - I can tell you this is the way WDC works. I pity
you if you think it does not. Government healthcare (no matter
the form) will come down to this in America ? it is how our
system works at its core.
I know these are pesky questions that seem to stoop beneath the
meaningful name calling and the lofty derisive discussion in
this thread - but inquiring minds want to know.
Instead, why not:
>Have real tort reform like they did in Texas with great
results
>Have portability for insurance coverage
>Allow small businesses to pool together to lower their costs
of insurance coverage
>Come up with a catastrophic insurance plan
>Get consumers closer to the market interface allowing the
free market to work
These are just a start ? simple and straight forward but they
will work. These beat the Fascism proposed by our President.
And oh by the way, concerning #8 above ? if your Congressmen is
not a Democrat, I just wonder if the members of the healthcare
panel (who will be SEIU members) will really listen to his
request on your behalf??? So I guess question # 4 really is the
heart and soul of this conversation!!!! Oh silly me ? this could
never happen in America ? right???!!!??? And surely you don?t
think your local Congressmen would try to get your IRS info so
he knows how much you can give him - do you??? No way - that is
just too much?.. Thuggism ? the Chicago way ? now on a national
level. Sure glad our President cares so much about us!!! Don?t
you?
Reply to this commentby Real Freedom September 10, 2009 3:50 AM EDT
1. Tort reform can be viewed as a removal of a person's
right to sue. If it was in this bill you can bet the
Republicans would be complaining that the bill was taking
away the right to sue.
2. You sue doctors for malpractice, like always.
3. The IRS already gives income information to other
agencies under the Patriot Act. Why no protest about that?
4. Good question. Which party is proposing reform, and
which is trying to block it? There is the answer.
5. Community organizations - I thought that having them
rather than government involved would be something that
conservatives would like.
6. I like that. I'm a white man over 50 - bingo a minority
in today's America.
7. The people who come here for care are the super rich.
They don't have problems with insurance.
8. You don't think we have rationing now? Try to get hip
replacement if you are over 80.
by milt5658 September 1, 2009 4:58 PM EDT
I already covered this drivel on my blog at
PleaseCutthecrap.com.This doesn't just give access to everyone's tax forms, as this article implies. The only people whose tax forms would even be looked at would be those who are applying for a government subsidy to pay for their health insurance. In order for the Commissioner to access tax returns, they would need an application, and permission from the taxpayer.
Apparently, Declan has never had to apply for student addistance to go to college, because they've done the same thing there for years. And for him to quote so many biased right wing sources, and not even attempt to read the bill itself and clarify what it actually says is the height of journalistic irresponsibility.
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About Taking Liberties Declan McCullagh's iconoclastic take on politics, the economy, and individual rights. (Iconoclast: From Medieval Latin "iconoclastes," and from Middle Greek "eikonoklast's," meaning image destroyer.) Sample topics: economy, politics, interviews, free speech, property rights, gun rights, lessons in economics, individual rights, interviews, technology, features.
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