Strange Bedfellows...

Former SOTH Newt Gingrich and NY Senator Hillary Clinton have formed a seemingly unholy alliance to support 21st Century Health Information Act (H.R. 2234), introduced by Reps. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.). This move seems to confirm the speculation that both will make a run for their party’s nominations in the next Presidential primary. This could be perceived as a stepping stone to the assumption that both are capable of bi-partisan cooperation.

As far as I can tell the Bill itself is a no-brainer. Eliminating paperwork with doctor's chicken scratch on it and computerizing all medical records. I am just wondering why it takes and act of Congress to get this done --and why it hasn't been enacted by the medical community of their own volition... But alas, there is opposition:

"The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer advocacy organization, warns that the "huge databases" envisioned by the bill would contain information on a patient's illnesses, genetic predispositions, alcohol and drug addiction, medication history, and probably "personal identifier information," such as a Social Security Number.

Although the bill allows patients to opt out of having their information included in a medical database, it does not hold database operators accountable when information is inappropriately accessed, the FTCR said in a press release." (source)

"I find he and I have a lot in common in the way we see the problems that we're going to have to deal with in order to have a 21st-century health care system," press reports quoted Sen. Clinton as saying [about Gingrich].
Truthfully, I could care less about the bill --I just enjoy watching how 'the game' is played in real time...