Will Obamacare Require RFID Chips in Humans by March 23 2013?

A rumor states that American citizens will be required to be implanted with a microchip in their hand or forehead as part of Obamacare. Is this real or a hoax?

It’s not true.

The Rumor: Microchipping and the Book of Revelations
The rumor states that Obamacare will require all US citizens to be implanted with a tracking microchip. It is often related to prophecy in the book of Revelations in the Bible.

Revelations 13 states:

16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

One variant of the online rumor states:

This new Health Care (Obamacare) law requires an RFID chip implanted in all of us. This chip will not only contain your personal information with tracking capability but it will also be linked to your bank account. And get this, Page 1004 of the new law (dictating the timing of this chip), reads, and I quote: “Not later than 36 months after the date of the enactment”. It is now the law of the land that by March 23rd 2013 we will all be required to have an RFID chip underneath our skin and this chip will be link to our bank accounts as well as have our personal records and tracking capability built into it…

HR 3200
What rumor mongers are circulating is a complete misinterpretation of part of an earlier bill that was never even passed. 

One of the first attempts at Obamacare was HR 3200, also known as America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. In this bill, there was a section that called for a “National Device Registry.” This was meant to keep a registry of all medical devices. A couple of phrases within this section apparently raised eyebrows of conspiracy theorists:

‘‘(A) is or has been used in or on a patient; and

‘‘(B) is—
2 ‘‘(i) a class III device; or
3 ‘‘(ii) a class II device that is implantable, life-supporting, or life-sustaining.”

Seeing “in or on a patient” along with “implantable” are the only things that anywhere resemble the “embedded microchip” rumor.

This, however,  is merely legalese for stating that any devices – inside or outside of a patient – would be subject to the device registry. There was no requirement for a device to be implanted in humans.

And let’s not forget that HR 3200 was not passed and did not become law. The legislation that eventually became law did not contain the “device registry” nor does it mention RFID chips or implantation of devices.

The Photo
A photo is often circulated with the RFID story as “proof” that these microchips exist. The photo, however,  is doctored and combines two unrelated images. The first image shows fingers holding a microchip. This is actually microchip to be used in continuous glucose monitoring in humans. The rest of the graphic is taken from a 2008 illustration by How Stuff Works which describing pet microchipping. The words “Pet Microchip” in the original were replaced with “RFID Chip” in the hoax version.

Sources of original photos: Glucose and Pet Microchipping.

Full text of HR 3200 here.

2013 Fake Stories

In 2013, a series of RFID-related articles by the satirical National Report website have been circulated by those unaware of the farcical nature of the site.

• Were Wyoming Christians Forced Obamacare RFID Chipping? (November 2013)
• Are Wyoming Schools Implanting RFID Chips Without Parental Consent? (October 2013)
• Are RFID Chips Being Implemented in Hanna, Wyoming? (July 2013)

Have you heard this rumor? Give us your take on it!