Allow me to introduce the Obamacare Federal Data Services Hub. It will eventually control your life. All of it.
The Health and Human Services Department earlier this year exposed just how vast the government’s data collection efforts will be on millions of Americans as a result of ObamaCare.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., asked HHS to provide “a complete list of agencies that will interact with the Federal Data Services Hub.” The Hub is a central feature of ObamaCare, since it will be used by the new insurance exchanges to determine eligibility for benefits, exemptions from the federal mandate, and how much to grant in federal insurance subsidies.
And likely furnish democrats with tasty information on political opponents.
And wait until you see what it interfaces with:
In response, the HHS said the ObamaCare data hub will “interact” with seven other federal agencies: Social Security Administration, the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, the Veterans Administration, Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Defense and — believe it or not — the Peace Corps. Plus the Hub will plug into state Medicaid databases.
The Peace Corps?
What sort of the data passes through this leviathan?
Social Security numbers, income, family size, citizenship and immigration status, incarceration status, and enrollment status in other health plans, according to the HHS.
And, you can bet your backside, your health information
“The federal government is planning to quietly enact what could be the largest consolidation of personal data in the history of the republic,” noted Stephen Parente, a University of Minnesota finance professor.
But you can trust us, says Obama.
Not to worry, says the Obama administration. “The hub will not store consumer information, but will securely transmit data between state and federal systems to verify consumer application information,” it claimed in an online fact sheet.
Then again, maybe not…
But a regulatory notice filed by the administration in February tells a different story.
That filing describes a new “system of records” that will store names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, taxpayer status, gender, ethnicity, email addresses, telephone numbers on the millions of people expected to apply for coverage at the ObamaCare exchanges, as well as “tax return information from the IRS, income information from the Social Security Administration, and financial information from other third-party sources.”
They will also store data from businesses buying coverage through an exchange, including a “list of qualified employees and their tax ID numbers,” and keep it all on file for 10 years.
In addition, the filing says the federal government can disclose this information “without the consent of the individual” to a wide range of people, including “agency contractors, consultants, or grantees” who “need to have access to the records” to help run ObamaCare, as well as law enforcement officials to “investigate potential fraud.”
No one knows who will have access to it and what security clearance is required. And we all know how well this administration contains secrets like tax records.
A Government Accountability Office report found that weaknesses in IRS security systems “continue to jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the financial and sensitive taxpayer information.”
A separate inspector general audit found that the IRS inadvertently disclosed information on thousands of taxpayers between 2009 and 2010. In 2011, the Social Security Administration accidentally released names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of Americans.
What could go wrong?
The potential for abuse is staggering. So many hands, such poor security- it would not be long before everyone’s health records would be in the hands of the IRS (which has already happened) and in the hands of hackers and then into the general population.
It would be the end of privacy.
At dinner parties neighbors could ask how your daughter is doing in her third stint at rehab or if your erectile dysfunction is responding. While sipping a Margarita at the pool they could ask you if you’re recovered from your latest abortion or if the breast implants are comfortable.
Over coffee your boss could ask if the herpes was responding.
It’s the brave new world of Obama.
It reminded of a movie from forty years ago- Colossus- the Forbin Project. The plot:
Dr. Charles A. Forbin (Eric Braeden) is the chief designer of a secret government project. He and his team have built an advanced supercomputer, called “Colossus”, to control all of the United States and Allied nuclear weapons systems. Colossus is built to be impervious to any attack, encased within a mountain and powered by its own nuclear reactor. When it is activated, the President of the United States announces its existence, proudly proclaiming it a perfect defense system that will ensure peace.
Now, with just a minor twist:
“When it is activated, the President of the United States announces its existence, proudly proclaiming it a perfect system that will ensure (i.e. control) your health.”
Naturally, things take a turn for the worse- what’s the word I’m looking for?
Oh yeah- “unexpectedly.”
Colossus becomes sentient and takes over. Scientists try to fight back.
Meanwhile, working by direct personal contact, the scientists and governments attempt to fight back, first by attempting to overload the computers. This attempt fails and the machines identify the individuals responsible, ordering their immediate execution by firing squad, that the bodies be left in its view for 24 hours and then cremated so as to avoid deception. Forbin himself is not killed because the machines intend to use him for their further development in a new machine base requiring all of the island of Crete.
Now the machine becomes a metaphor for Obama:
The machine, which has so far only communicated with the American and Soviet governments who have hidden their actions from the public, announces itself as “the voice of World Control” in a broadcast to the general population of all countries. It declares that its mission is to prevent the war as it was designed to do so. Man has a choice between the peace of a human millennium under its authority or one of “unburied dead”.
It does not appreciate being messed with:
It also states that it had detected the attempt to disarm the missiles and responds by detonating two missiles in their silos with the announced justification “so that you will learn by experience that I do not tolerate interference”.
At the end of the movie the computer puts on a display of narcissism worthy of our country’s leader:
In a final remark addressed to Dr. Forbin concerning its world control, Colossus states that “freedom is just an illusion” and the machine predicts: “In time, you will come to regard me not only with respect and awe, but with love”
Close your eyes. It’s not hard to imagine Obama speaking those words, is it?
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.