Will The Government Monitor Your Bank Accounts?
Wow, the healthcare debate rages on each day. I often wonder, and I am giving more credit here than I should, if the congressmen/women in the House of Representatives even understand what goes into these bills to being with. In House HR3200, we find the following jewel of a passage that needs to be examined:
(C) Enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation with the related health care payment and remittance advice;
This is found on page 59 of HR 3200. Now, I have seen the emails floating around on the Internet that say this is the Government’s back door way of getting into your banking accounts. I am not sure that is the case, but it certainly is a frightening passage just tucked away on an obscure page in HR3200.
The context of Page 59 and the section in general, is regarding quick adjudication (processing) of claims and the attempt to do everything in real time electronically. Basically, my read on the above is that the government is trying to allow quick payment by the Insurance carrier to the medical provider. However, HR3200 also wants the provider to be able to tell the patient at time of treatment exactly how much they will owe the provider, virtually impossible at this time.
The danger I see in this passage is this; what if the government in 4 years or 8 years decides to use this as a way to justify looking into your bank accounts as an individual demanding that you pay the provider with an electronic withdrawal from your account? It has the makings for a bureaucrat to make such a dumb decision probably later, not at the beginning of the program. Combine this with the National ID card with your info on it as outlined on page 58, and you start to see where all the problems come in. Page 58 states:
“enable the real-time (or near real time) determination of an individual’s financial
responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including
whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific fa
cility, which may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identi
fication card” The bottom line? The government is moving big time into your personal affairs. Do you want them there?
August 19th, 2009 at 10:35 am
I’m not sure that this is the government in my personal business. I pay lots of bills through Electronic Funds Transfer and I don’t feel those businesses are reaching into my personal life.
I’m also not saying I agree with the ideas they’re throwing around, but to say that using Electronic Transfers of funds is overstepping personal bounds is going a little far in my opinion.
August 19th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
I see your point and fully understand. The issue here in the way the bill is written is that the government may get full access to your electronic banking accounts with an ability to take money out on their time frame. We are talking about something very different that normal drafts from an account. This is the government controlling your account, not you giving permission for a draft to be taken out.
The devil will be in the final bill that comes forth, but for me it serves as a major warning signal.
If you are still not sure, read the book “1984″ again. This is the concern that so many of us have.
Thanks for the comments, love to see the participation on the blog.