for almost no benefit, and don't kid yourself, we all pay billions for the paperwork and inefficiency that HIPAA has caused. Although I agree with many of the other things listed, this one doesn't get nearly enough attention. A very substantial chunk of many healthcare worker man hours per day are spent trying to deal directly or indirectly with HIPAA nonsense. It all started because of AIDS job discrimination, and the tiny / minute portion of our population that actually cared if someone knew you went to the doctor for a cold, or to get an Xray for your ankle injury. It's stupid, and now we all suffer for it. The lawyers, with their cronies in government (Kennedy especially), used the tiny AIDS minority plight, and saw a perfect opportunity to secure a bigger niche in the healthcare industry, especially since the pub on that other niche they'd weaseled into (ambulance chasing) the American public was starting to sour on (although that issue has sadly and conspicuously lost it's steam of late).

It's the most glaring piece of legislation ever perpetrated on the American people that advantages less than 1% of the population (who actually care), at the express disadvantage (cost) of the other 99%. No one should condone the Tyranny of the majority, but we are all paying a huge price for this lawyer-pocket-lining piece of crap under the guise of trying to protect healthcare info for a few vocal people. These laws were already in place prior to HIPAA - if a doc stood out on the street corner holding a sign that one of his patients had Gonorrhea, he could and would be liable for that. All HIPAA did was make it easier for the lawyers to foment fear and over-interpretation, and then drum up business for themselves.

The actual solutions to the healthcare crisis are simple, but the implementation is the problem because our government is owned by special interest, even those who think they're not owned. In the dark ages, it was the lack of separation of church and state that led to tyranny and oppression of the people, whereas now it is the lack of separation of Corporate America (including lawyers) and the government that leads to the same oppression.