Thanks to Sandy Szwarc of the blog Junk Food Science for this alert.
The Metro Health District in San Antonio is creating a "surveillance program" to identify diabetics. Earlier I had written about a similar program in New York. Hemoglobin A1C levels will have to be reported by the clinical labs to the public health folks.
The project is described as a pilot program which came into being by actions of the Texas Legislature.If successful(those sorts of program are very likely to be judged successful by the folks who administer it)it will be transplanted into other metro areas in Texas.
The notion that medical care ( health care) is too important to be left to individual physician and the individual patient gains more traction as the nanny state move on, privacy being a quaint concern of an earlier era.
Safe drinking water and mosquito control are considered to be legitimate concerns of public health authorities, my blood sugar level, hemoglobin A 1C and blood pressure level are not.
2 comments:
Unfortunately, as more health care is paid for by the government, there IS a public health argument to be made for nanny state surveillance of your A1C, blood pressure, weight, etc.
If uncle sam is going to be paying the bill for your unhealthy lifestyle, uncle sam is entitled to work on making you healthier.
(now, whether that truly will save money in the long term is a whole other issue.)
to Anonymous 8:06
A interesting phrase-"uncle sam is entitled",in other words the government is entitled to monitor the health of everyone and take action to make sure "Its" money is well spent.What section of the constitution gives government those powers?
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