I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4585
To strengthen consumers’ control over the use and disclosure of their health
information by financial institutions, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 6, 2000
Mr. LEACH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Banking and Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To strengthen consumers’ control over the use and disclosure
of their health information by financial institutions, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medical Financial Pri-
vacy Protection Act’’.
SEC. 2. USE AND DISCLOSURE OF HEALTH INFORMATION
BY FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bli-
ley Act (15 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.) is amended by inserting
after section 502 the following:
‘‘SEC. 502A. SPECIAL RULES FOR HEALTH INFORMATION.
‘‘(a) RULES FOR DISCLOSURE.—
‘‘(1) GENERAL RULE REQUIRING AFFIRMATIVE
CONSENT FOR DISCLOSURE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A financial institution
may not disclose any individually identifiable
health information pertaining to a consumer to
an affiliate or a nonaffiliated third party unless
the financial institution—
‘‘(i) has provided to the consumer a
clear and conspicuous notice in writing, in
electronic form, or in another form per-
mitted by the regulations implementing
this subtitle, of the categories of such in-
formation that may be disclosed and the
categories of affiliates or nonaffiliated
third parties to whom the financial institu-
tion discloses such information;
‘‘(ii) has clearly and conspicuously re-
quested in writing, in electronic form, or in
another form permitted by the regulations
implementing this subtitle, that the con-
sumer affirmatively consent to such disclo-
sure; and
‘‘(iii) has obtained from the consumer
such affirmative consent and such consent
has not been withdrawn.
‘‘(B) WITHDRAWAL
OF
CONSENT.—Any
withdrawal of consent is subject to the rights of
any financial institution that acted in reliance
on the consent prior to its withdrawal.
‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE
OF
INFORMATION
ABOUT
PERSONAL SPENDING HABITS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a financial institu-
tion provides a service to a consumer through
which the consumer makes or receives payments
or transfers by check, debit card, credit card, or
other similar instrument, the financial institu-
tion may not disclose any information described
in subparagraph (B) pertaining to the con-
sumer to an affiliate or a nonaffiliated third
party unless the financial institution has satis-
fied the requirements of clauses (i), (ii), and
(iii) of paragraph (1)(A) with respect to the dis-
closure.
‘‘(B) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The in-
formation described in this paragraph is—
‘‘(i) an individualized list of a con-
sumer’s transactions or an individualized
description of a consumer’s interests, pref-
erences, or other characteristics; or
‘‘(ii) any such list or description con-
structed in response to an inquiry about a
specific, named individual;
if the list or description is derived from individ-
ually identifiable health information collected in
the course of providing a service described in
subparagraph (A) to the consumer.
‘‘(3) DISCLOSURE OF AGGREGATE LISTS.—A fi-
nancial institution may not disclose any aggregate
list of consumers containing or derived from individ-
ually identifiable health information to an affiliate or
a nonaffiliated third party unless the financial insti-
tution has satisfied, for each consumer on the list,
the requirements of clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of para-
graph (1)(A) with respect to the disclosure.
‘‘(4) EXCEPTIONS
TO
DISCLOSURE
LIMITA-
TIONS.—This section shall not restrict a financial in-
stitution from disclosing individually identifiable
health information—