Sorry, but poor example. I for one don't trust the private banking system...given the last 10 years.

An extra layer of security seems appropriate.
Security and privacy are real big issues

Yes they are big issues. And your privacy may indeed be violated... By policy, not piracy. And banking is INCREDIBLY secure. Security breaches could clear accounts and even cripple governments.

I guess you could always keep your money in a mattress and never go to the doctor.

This would be the point where I'd differ we "agree to disagree".

Thanks for your work, and happy holidays.

After a while I've got it customized so that it'll fill in things that I otherwise had to dictate a million times a day so that saves me time. BUT I find now I'm doing more at home...the charts are now homework. My biggest gripe is they aren't written in a way that makes sense for how we work, just data mining. Most of the data is useless crap and comes out in broken English at best.

No, worse than this is when hackers get into your records and steal everything. This was the last thing we needed but Washington DC always thinks it knows better.

Your financial data is accessed to a great measure every time someone pulls a credit report. "Pretty well sorted out"? I couldn't disagree more. Identity theft, People steal your tax returns (a huge problem that the IRS refuses to talk about until it happens to you... Ever have a credit card company re-issue your cc with a new expiration date even when the old one is still good for another year or two? That's an indicator of a security breach.
hackers: see above
DC knows better: Big govt with "social services" makes the people dependent and less likely to rebel against lost freedom.

Yea right. Remember WikiLeaks? The info will get out by hook or crook.

"People dependent and less likely to rebel"... otherwise known as removing their spine and balls and turning them into slaves. Sorry, am choosing not to participate...

It does add a lot of time. It bugs me that it is okay if I call the pharmacy, but if it goes electronically it needs some other confirmation. The different systems not communicating is so stupid. Even if they use the same software, the different networks won't connect, or not in a useful manner anyway. I guess it eventually will get better, but that does not really make me happier about it.

I wonder if I could access it using the Kindle Fire I got the wife for Christmas, just to look at stuff, not to do data entry, that might be cool.

Sounds a bit like a social security number. But this will be a number that gets passed out to every nurse, therapist, pharmacist, lab technician and physician taking care of the patient.

SocSec cards used to have "For Social Security and Tax Purposes - Not for Identification" That went away and now you can't hardly get Cable TV or a doctor's visit without giving up your number. Its all a part of the process of a coming one world govt system.

The Dunning - Kruger effect strikes again.

just give out a fake #

It used to be customary to use the SSN for ID in medical records, insurance plans, whatever. That all changed in the not too distant past. I think Medicare is the only one using SSN for ID any more.

You can decline to give your SSN, can't think of an instance where you would have to give that information, except maybe on your tax return or something. If they say you have to, no other way to do it, they don't know how things are.