Unfortunately, the amendment repealing the ban on using federal funds to develop a unique patient identifier was snuck through the U.S. House last week.
The amendment was folded into an “en bloc” amendment. This is when group of amendments are put together in one large block of amendments. These are supposed to be non-controversial amendments that the leadership thinks will pass with overwhelming support.
So why was the unique patient identifier amendment included in this? It is likely Democratic leadership did not want to have an up-or-down vote because they knew that while the unique patient identifier is popular with politicians, bureaucrats, and crony capitalists, it is unpopular with the public.
The decision regarding the amendments to include in en bloc amendments is entirely up to the majority party.
When an en bloc amendment is brought to the floor, the Clerk of the House reads the amendment numbers -- not their substance. Opponents of the patient ID probably did not even realize that amendment was shoved into the en bloc until it was over.
Even worse, the en bloc was voted on five minutes after it was introduced with no debate!
The good news is the supporters of the patient identifier clearly know the people are against them. Therefore, we still have an excellent chance at stopping implementation of a unique patient identifier this year.
Stay tuned for the next step in our battle against the unique patient identifier.
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