by Dr. Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute
According to a story in Politico, the White House Coronavirus Task Force is considering creating a national surveillance system to track Americans’ health information. Supporters of this initiative claim it would enable the federal government to quickly identify areas in need of additional medical supplies and other assistance because the areas are coronavirus “hot spots.”
Of course, it is unlikely that this system would be limited to only tracking coronavirus patients. The government may eventually keep track of every hospital admission — or even all visits to doctors’ offices — in the United States. This system could, and likely would, be used to violate privacy and harass and intimidate those challenging existing government policies. Anyone who doubts this should ask themselves what J. Edgar Hoover or Lois Lerner would have done with access to every American’s medical history. No wonder some have described this as a healthcare PATRIOT Act.