Is HHS Listening to Ordinary Citizens?
Kent Snyder of the Liberty Committee reported that during the first public comment period [that closed in February 2000], his organization submitted over 12,000 comments critical of the proposed privacy rule to then-HHS Secretary Donna Shalala. [She modified the rule somewhat in response to those comments.] But during the second public comment period that closed in April 2001, 13,534 individuals from across the country signed a petition to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson objecting to the rule. However, “HHS decided to calculate 13,534 petition signatures as one [comment],” he said. Snyder also pointed out that Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) has sponsored legislation to repeal the privacy regulations and has also succeeded during the past few years in placing a moratorium on funding for the “unique health identifier” for all citizens. IHF’s Sue Blevins noted that HHS, in ignoring the thousands of public comments, was clearly siding with medical industry special interest groups when it come
