House Banking Committee OK’s Medical Privacy Bill
Legislation designed to increase individual medical privacy protections under the Financial Services Modernization Act was approved with unusual speed last week by the House Banking Committee.
The Medical Financial Privacy Protection Act (HR-4585), with 11 amendments, was approved 26-14 last Thursday by the panel, just 22 days after its introduction by Committee chairman James A. Leach (R-IA).
While most of the amendments are technical in nature, clarifying various provisions in the bill, others would prohibit financial institutions from demanding and/or using information about a person’s health, including any treatments for substance abuse and genetics as a condition of granting a loan or credit.
Other amendments include prohibiting financial institutions from distributing information about customers who refuse to permit disclosure of their medical histories and allowing individuals to sue financial institutions for misuse of their medical information.
“We are reviewing the amendments to determine their impact on the direct marketing industry,” said Richard A. Barton, the Direct Marketing Association’s senior vice president, Congressional Matters.
The amendments did not alter the bill’s main thrust of plugging several loopholes in the Financial Service’s Modernization Act. The Act permits banks, insurance and securities companies to merge and offer competing products and service, but prohibits them from disclosing any financial information about their customers to affiliates, subsidiaries or others without written permission.
Other provisions of Leach’s bill, which were not changed, include limitations on the disclosure and reuse of a person’s financial and medical data and granting consumer access to their identifiable health information with the right to inspect, copy and correct any errors found in them.
The amended version of the measure now goes to the House Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Bliley (R-VA), for consideration before reaching the House floor for a vote.
