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Senate Vote on Medical Privacy
H.R 3103

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Medical privacy - Hidden within the massive health care reform bill approved by Congress in the stampede for an August recess was a deceptively labeled provision that further eroded the privacy rights of all Americans. The provision, known as "administrative simplification," gives government and businesses access to confidential medical information about individuals without their consent and establishes a unique health identification number for every patient, health provider, health plan and employer. The medical privacy provisions of the bill never came up for a separate vote, but the Senate approved the health care measure on a vote of 98 to 0. Earlier, the House had rejected by a vote of 198 to 226 an alternative version of the bill that would have deleted the anti-privacy provisions.