Again, in the name of protecting us, a new policy is rolling into place. The federal agency Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) will force 9,000 home health care agencies to collect and report sensitive information about all their patients. It’s official name is Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS).

Under this new program home health care providers must interrogate every one of their patients. Logically it would seem that the government would want to know about patients whose bills are being paid by the government through Medicare and Medicaid. But this new regulation goes farther and includes each and every patient in the United States. Since when does the government need to have the detailed personal, health, and family history of each citizen?

This is a comprehensive report that consists of 12 pages of fine print that health care providers must fill out in detail about every patient at the outset and must be revised every 60 days. When did our private lives become the concern and interest of our government overseers? What are they going to use all this collected private data for? To keep an eye on us?

This report includes information about our medical history, treatment, medication, as well as race, ethnicity, family characteristics, living accommodations, finances, psychological attitude and behavior, smoking and drinking habits, bathing and eating habits, motivational characteristics, suicidal tendencies, life expectancy, sexual tendencies and practices, bath and toilet habits, and on and on and on. If the patient refuses to answer a question, the health care provider is instructed to fill in the answers with their own observations. All of this information is then logged onto government databases that are tied into our social security number.

The OASIS regulation is another plot to implement Clinton’s goal to bring us towards a nationalized health plan, including global budgeting, and government management of all private and public health care facilities. This new OASIS regulation was only announced in the media after the comment period for its regulation had expired. Oh well! Another law slipped by as we were blindfolded from the truth. Full access to all of our private affairs will now be established and available to anyone in these government agencies.

This latest maneuver sounds like the Big Brother routine big time! Just think of the dire consequences of all of this data floating around to use at any opportunity!

Another aspect of this new program is an effort to recruit senior citizens to spy on their own doctors in order to catch them in fraudulent practices. To further their spying goals, Attorney General Janet Reno has made a public and private partnership with AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) to offer senior citizens rewards of up to $1000 if they file a report that leads to a monetary recovery from their doctor. Doctors will now be at the mercy of their senior patients who may not like the charges they find on their medical bills.

Once again Big Brother menacingly infiltrates into our private lives! What can we expect next?