Today the Health and Environment Subcommittee will address the most personal of health care issues, the right of an individual to have control over his or her medical records. I would like to thank my good friend, Chairman Mike Bilirakis, for holding a hearing on this important topic, and I look forward to more hearings on the subject in weeks to come.

I am proud to be a cosponsor of the Health Information Privacy Act with Mr. Waxman, Mr. Condit, Mr. Markey, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Towns, and Mr. Turner. This bill recognizes the fundamental right of an individual to inspect, copy, and amend his or her medical records. It ensures that these records will not be used or disclosed without an individual’s knowledge or consent. The bill establishes a federal floor of privacy protections, leaving States the freedom to enact stronger laws patient protections.

Today’s hearing covers but two facets of the medical records confidentiality debate--research and preemption. Everyone agrees that medical research is the foundation of twentieth-century medicine, and everyone also acknowledges that protections for patients who are the subject of research are essential. These two interests are not mutually exclusive. Many research studies involve patients with highly sensitive medical records, such as women with breast cancer or people with genetic disorders. We need to enact strong safeguards to protect the very groups who are most likely to benefit from such research. All research, whether federally-funded or private, should be subject to a check by an institutional review board or a similar entity. The potential harm from a lack of oversight is too great.

A comprehensive federal privacy law would provide many new protections for personal medical records. However, in passing federal legislation we must not preempt the protections that States have already enacted. For example, some States have implemented laws that guard the privacy of certain types of medical information, such as mental health records. State and local laws that are more protective of an individual’s privacy rights must be allowed to stand.

There is another, equally important reason for a federal law not to preempt stronger State and local laws. Congress has been considering federal privacy legislation for two decades. If we pass a law this year, it is unlikely that we will revisit the subject any time in the near future. We must not tie the States’ hands by preventing them from responding to privacy issues that arise in years ahead.