Pres. on med-privacy

[Peter Marshall <techdiff@ix.netcom.com>]

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   ==============================================================
   Volume 6.07                                       May 12, 1999
   --------------------------------------------------------------

                            Published by the
              Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
                            Washington, D.C.

                          http://www.epic.org

 Clinton Addresses Financial and Medical Privacy
=====================================================================

At a White House ceremony on May 4, President Clinton announced the
Administration's "plan for financial privacy and consumer protection
in the 21st century."  Noting that current law "to put it mildly, is
outdated and should be changed," Clinton endorsed new legislation that
would restrict the ability of banks, brokerage firms and insurance
companies to share with "affiliated" firms information on what consumers
buy with checks and credit cards.

The President also discussed the need for greater legal protection of
medical records:

     To enhance financial privacy, we must also protect the
     sanctity of medical records. With the growing number of
     mergers between insurance companies and banks, lenders
     potentially can gain access to the private medical information
     contained in insurance forms. So we propose to severely restrict
     the sharing of medical information within financial services
     conglomerates.

     You should not have to worry that the results of your latest
     physical exam will be used to deny you a home mortgage or a
     credit card. There are many other important protections for
     medical records that ought to be put in place. Because Congress
     has given me the authority to act if it does not do so by
     August, one way or another, we will protect the privacy of
     medical records this year.

Additional information on financial and medical privacy, including the text
of President Clinton's recent announcement, is available at:

     http://www.epic.org/privacy/