Paul Ryan Was For ID Data Hubs Before He Fearmongered Against It

Saw this story first at the Democurmudgeon about Rep. Paul Ryan's fearmongering to the media about the implementation of an ID system for Obamacare.

Like any business, subscription or membership, Obamacare must have an ID system at its core to administer the program and identify those participating in the plan. It's beyond the pale that a sitting congressman would imply that a data collection hub for such a large system would not be necessary, but in fact fearmongers it.

JS Online Excerpt:
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan said Tuesday that a "data hub" being compiled for Obamacare presents a danger to Americans. "This thing gives me a tingle down my spine. It's just chilling," the Janesville Republican told (a) conservative Milwaukee talk show host. "It's the biggest database ever collected on us, meaning people, the citizens of this country," Ryan claimed.

What the duplicitous Ryan leaves out is the fact that he supported not one but two national ID systems. His congressional voting record bears that out.

The first one in Oct. 2004 was H.R. 10 (911 Recommmendations Act). The final vote results for Roll Call 523 on H.R. 10 shows Rep. Paul Ryan voting affirmative for the creation of a federal ID database that will contain the name and personal information of every person in America.

In 2005, Ryan voted "aye" again in favor of the implementation of a standardized national ID system in the Real ID Act (H.R. 418).

Both bills passed the House with bipartisan support. Although it should be noted that while a majority of republicans support the idea of a national ID data hub on both counts, a majority of democrats oppose it.

Of course all this ignores the fact that the Obamacare "data hub" Ryan deliberately mischaracterizes does not collect, centralize or access records about health conditions. It could access other "personal" details beyond health status, including adjusted gross income and Social Security numbers, but those already exist in federal databases, so the hub wouldn’t represent an expansion of federal data collection.