Ron Paul Quotes.com 2008 Ron Paul Chapter 20 Ron Paul Quotes.com: NEWBORN SCREENING SAVES LIVES ACT OF 2007 8 April 2008 Home Page   Contents Congressional Record   Cached Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.

NEWBORN SCREENING SAVES LIVES ACT OF 2007 8 April 2008 SPEECH OF HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, April 8, 2008 2008 Ron Paul 20:1 Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, as an OB–GYN I take a back seat to no one when it comes to caring about the health of newborn children. However, as a Representative who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, I cannot support legislation, no matter how much I sympathize with the legislation’s stated goals, that exceeds the Constitutional limitations on Federal power or in any way threatens the liberty of the American people. Since S. 1858 violates the Constitution, and may have unintended consequences that will weaken the American health care system and further erode medical privacy, I must oppose it. 2008 Ron Paul 20:2 S. 1858 gives the Federal bureaucracy the authority to develop a model newborn screening program. Madam Speaker, the Federal Government lacks both the constitutional authority and the competence to develop a newborn screening program adequate for a nation as large and diverse as the United States. Some will say that the program is merely a guide for local hospitals. However, does anyone seriously doubt that, whatever the flaws contained in the model eventually adopted by the Federal Government, almost every hospital in the country will scrap their own newborn screening programs in favor of the Federal model? After all, no hospital will want to risk losing Federal funding because they did not adopt the “federally approved” plan for newborn screening. Thus, this bill takes another step toward the nationalization of health care. 2008 Ron Paul 20:3 As the Federal Government assumes more control over health care, medical privacy has increasingly come under assault. Those of us in the medical profession should be particularly concerned about policies allowing Government officials and State-favored interests to access our medical records without our consent. After all, patient confidentiality is the basis of the trust that must underline a positive physician-patient relationship. Yet my review of S. 1858 indicates the drafters of the legislation made no effort to ensure these newborn screening programs do not violate the privacy rights of parents and children. 2008 Ron Paul 20:4 In fact, by directing Federal bureaucrats to create a contingency plan for newborn screening in the event of a “public health” disaster, this bill may lead to further erosions of medical privacy. As recent history so eloquently illustrates, politicians are more than willing to take, and people are more than willing to cede, liberty during times of “emergency.” Thus, most people will gladly sacrifice their families’ medical privacy if they are told it is necessary to protect them from a Government-declared health emergency, while the Federal Government will be very unlikely to relinquish its new powers when the emergency passes. 2008 Ron Paul 20:5 I am also skeptical, to say the least, that a top-down Federal plan to screen any part of the population will effectively help meet the challenges facing the health care system in the event of a real public emergency. State and local Governments working together with health care providers, can better come up with effective ways to deal with public health emergencies than can any Federal bureaucracy. It is for these reasons, Madam Speaker, that I oppose S. 1858.

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