Newsweek's Dumb Idea

One of the things I like the most about America is that our Founding Fathers had such a clear understanding of human nature, which is to say they didn't trust it and set up a system of government with lots of checks and balances precisely because they didn't fully trust each other or future generations of Americans.

All I can say about Jerry Adler is that I'm glad he wasn't a part of the formation of our country. He's written this piece for Newsweek arguing for a national system for the medical records of all Americans that is stunning in its naivete.

No, Mr. Adler, we like the screwed up system we have, because it ensures that to the greatest extent possible our medical records are kept disjointed, disorganized and therefore, private.

On this issue, liberals and conservatives should be in agreement: A liberal wouldn't have trusted Dick Cheney with access to his or her private medical records during the Bush administration and a conservative would likely not trust Barack Obama with theirs.

Just as good fences make good neighbors, so a healthy understanding of human nature and the depravity of man will keep dumb proposals like Mr. Adler's from gaining traction.

Comments

[David Loewenstern]

Unless it is made illegal to aggregate information across different corporate databases, the current hodgepodge just makes legitimate use of information difficult while doing nothing to protect privacy. Companies with data will still sell it. All you're saying is that you'd rather have your insurance company continue to share its medical data with your employer, advertisers, and credit companies while hospitals and doctors don't share data because it doesn't make any money for them. Wal-mart is getting into the business of selling medical records directly to doctors, but the price is steep and unless the doctors are subsidized or can pass the costs on to the insurance companies there's little incentive for them.

[JK1240]

Personally, I think it's a great idea. What, you think your medical records are safe now?