(CNSNews.com) – Two Democratic senators who support the $789-billion stimulus bill say they do not support the provision in it that creates a government database that will hold the personal medical records of all Americans. They say individuals ought to be able to opt out of the system.
 
Two Republican senators, who oppose the overall bill, were also critical of the database.
 
The bill calls for the creation of a federal “Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.”  This office will be responsible for creating the national database and a plan for “the utilization of an electronic health record (EHR) for each person in the United States by 2014.”
 
The House version of the bill said the database would be used, among other things, to provide “appropriate information to help guide medical decisions at the time and place of care” and improve “coordination of care and information among hospitals, laboratories, physician offices, and other entities through an effective infrastructure for the secure and authorized exchange of health care information.”
 
Critics argue that it is an invasion of privacy and also a precursor element of a national health care plan that will be used to guide the rationing of medical services by the federal government.
 
“I think they [Americans] should be able to opt out and before such a thing is established that opportunity will be provided,” Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) told CNSNews.com.
 
But “the important thing is that we get a stimulus package enacted quickly so that we can begin to, hopefully, create pro-growth energies in the economy,” Bingaman said. “There are going to be a lot of details in there we will have an opportunity to correct to the extent it’s required down the road.”
 
The final version of the $789-billion plan was negotiated between House and Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday. The House is expected to vote on the bill on Friday and the Senate on either Friday evening or Saturday.
 
The federal medical-records database is expected to cost $19 billion.
 
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D- N.J.), who also voted for the stimulus package, expressed concern about the federal database that would hold the personal medical records of all Americans. When asked if Americans should be allowed to opt out of it, he said, “Yes.”
 
“To me it’s both good and questionable,” Lautenberg told CNSNews.com. “Do we restrict individual opportunity and liberty in a very significant way? I mean, what happens if a person has an illness and an employer says, ‘Look, they have a life expectancy that’s too short for our research,’ or whatever. I think we are entitled to privacy.”
 
Lautenberg suggested a solution that is not included in the stimulus package for which he voted.
 
“I think that perhaps it could be done by carrying a card, but I don’t know how that could be protected,” said Lautenberg. “You can put so much on an electric card as everyone knows. That would enable the individual to make a decision on whether or not he wants to display it.”
 
But Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who said he thinks Americans should be able to choose what happens to their medical records and who did not vote for the package, warned that the speedy process by which Democrats pushed the stimulus through Congress created an opportunity for many provisions – like the creation of the medical records database – to make their way into the package unchallenged.
 
“I would be interested in stopping it,” Cornyn said of the mandatory medical-records database. “We are going to be finding a lot of junk in this bill for a long time to come because there has been little opportunity for due deliberation.
 
“No one really knows what’s in the bill,” said Cornyn, noting that Republicans had “no chance” of stopping its passage.
 
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said he did not know much about the medical-records provision but said “if there is a problem” he hopes there will be a way to fix the mandate in the future because there is little hope of stopping it today.
 
“I hope that, if there is a problem there, it’s one that can be rectified where we can in fact modernize what we do when it comes to record keeping but at the same time ensure that those privacy issues are death with,” said Corker. “But I don’t see any way to stop it. I have been very disappointed by what happened and very against most of it, but I don’t see us stopping it.”
 
Both Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Daniel Akaka (D- Hawaii) declined to answer CNSNews.com’s questions about the medical-records database.