During the 2012 presidential election, News With Views, a web site that claims to be “where reality shatters illusion” claimed to have discovered that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known in Republican circles by the shorthand title Obamacare, will force all Americans to be injected with a trackable RFID microchip by March 23, this year. According to News With Views, this microchip, known as the Medchip, is authorized by the following language in the health care reform law:

"“The Secretary shall establish a national medical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the ‘registry’) to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on each device that—‘‘(A) is or has been used in or on a patient; and ‘‘(B) is a class III device; or ‘‘(ii) a class II device that is implantable."

It’s now less than two months before the supposed March 23, 2013 deadline for all Americans to get a government microchip implanted underneath their skin, and the rumors are running wild among birthers, truthers, preppers, and end timers. Are they right to be afraid?

Two things are key to evaluating this story:

1. The legislative language (shown above) that News With Views claims will require all Americans to accept an RFID chip in the next few weeks actually doesn’t say anything about creating a massive RFID implantation program. It would merely create a system for the evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of certain medical devices, including implantable devices.

2. The legislative language isn’t actually in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Search the text of the law yourself. You won’t find any mention of a national medical device registry.

This story, like so many other right wing stories about satanic socialist plots that link Barack Obama to the beginning of an End Times war between the forces of evil and righteousness, is completely without basis in fact.

But then, I’m a liberal. Maybe I’m part of the conspiracy.

There’s one way to test that theory. Come back here on March 24, 2013. If everyone you know has had a government RFID chip forcefully implanted, let us know.