Whoa, I had no idea our friends to the south were already on their way toward the nationalization of their health care information.

Title XIII of the stimulus law provided for "the development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure" that would include "the qualified electronic health record" of "each person in the United States by 2014."

The law specifically says that this "means an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that — (A) includes patient demographic and clinical health information, such as medical history and problems lists; and (B) has the capacity — (i) to provide clinical decision support; (ii) to support physician order entry; (iii) to capture and query information relevant to health care quality; and (iv) to exchange electronic health information with, and integrate such information from other sources."

These records—including a person's "medical history and problems list"—must be put into a national system that allows for "the electronic linkage of health care providers, health plans, the government and other interested parties to enable electronic exchange and use of health information among all the components in the health care infrastructure in accordance with applicable law," says the law.

If this is correct, the stimulus law mandates the centralized collection of health data for basically everyone. No wonder the US lefties were so keen on it. That this is even conceivable in a free country is gobsmacking.