Twila Brase, RN and president/co-founder of Citizens' Council for Health Freedom, says there has long been an attempt to create a National Patient ID, a single number issued by the federal government under which all the details of a person's medical records would be.
"Our organization has tried to make sure that this number never happens," Brase asserts.
She credits former Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) for ensuring that a National Patient ID has not been funded for the last 20 years. But now, as there are no Republicans in charge in Congress, Brase says the appropriations bills do not have that prohibition.
"We have started a campaign of the American public to stop the National Patient ID. It would leave you with no privacy, and all sorts of people could be looking at all the details of your medical records under this one number," she warns. "In addition to that, if you don't have [a National Patient ID] number, you will not be able to access care, because everything will be required to be under that number."
At a time in which many things are labeled fake news or conspiracy theories, Brase asserts this is very real.
"The unique patient identifier is actually a law, but the funding for it and the establishment of it has been stopped for more than 20 years," she explains. "So it's a law, but if it can't be funded, it can't happen."
With that in mind, Brase encourages people to take action by making connections with the people in Washington, D.C. who are making these decisions.
