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Majority Leader Dick Armey Testimony before the Veterans Affairs
Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations April 4, 2001 Chairman
Buyer:
Thank you for conducting this important oversight hearing and
for providing me the opportunity to present this testimony. Last
fall, Veterans’ Affairs Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Terry
Everett held a hearing which revealed that the Department of
Veterans’ Affairs Inspector General was easily able to penetrate the
Veterans Benefits Administration’s computer security systems and
freely access its computer networks.
The personal records of individual veterans applying for
benefits were potentially exposed – records that indicate
disabilities, mental testing, and financial data.
The VA was unaware their systems had been penetrated and thus
was unable to assure veterans that their privacy had not been
compromised. This despite
the fact that the VA had spent well over $5 billion upgrading its
computer systems in the last 5 years.
Unfortunately, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs is not the
only agency with such a poor track record.
Government Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Steve Horn last year
conducted a comprehensive review of the Clinton Administration’s
computer security, which resulted in an overall score of D-.
Numerous departments and agencies, which collect volumes of
personal information about each of us, received failing grades.
Similarly, a study released last year by the General Accounting
Office (GAO), requested by Representative Tauzin and me, revealed that
97% of federal agency web sites failed to meet the privacy standards
that the Federal Trade Commission had recommended that Congress impose
on the private sector.
The Clinton Administration seemed to have a double standard
when it came to protecting personal information.
While seeking to impose complicated and cumbersome rules on the
private sector, the prior Administration ignored catastrophic problems
in its own backyard.
A perfect example of
this is the Clinton Administration’s eleventh hour imposition of new
regulations addressing medical privacy issued under the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
The HIPAA regulations were drafted to address a concern that
many Americans have about the privacy of their personal medical
records. The lengthy
document outlines complicated new requirements for patients to sign
authorizations for the release of personal information under specific
circumstances. It
is not entirely clear to me how the new rules will actually address
real medical privacy harms currently suffered by patients not already
covered by tort law or other remedies. What is clear, however, is that these regulations may have
entirely the opposite effect by putting even more private, personally
identifiable medical information in the hands of health care
bureaucrats.
What has not been widely reported are the rule’s new mandates
requiring doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers to share
patients’ personal medical records with the federal government,
sometimes without notice or advance warning. (See, for example,
Federal Register, Vol. 65, No. 250, December 28, 2000, p. 82802, Sec.
160.310.)
The federal government is probably the single largest collector
and compiler of personally identifiable medical information in
America. Federal computer
databanks are filled with intimate details about the medical histories
of millions of Americans—and often the poor, who are least able to
monitor and safeguard their own rights.
The Medicare and Medicaid systems, the Veterans Health
Administration, and other government-run health care programs all
collect the kinds of medical information the proposed privacy
regulation is supposed to protect.
Far from protecting privacy, the proposed regulation actually
provides the federal government with more access to personal medical
records.
This “Trust me, I’m from the government” approach just
won’t wash. People who
are concerned about having their medical histories wind up in the
wrong hands don’t care whether it is their doctor or their
government that threatens their privacy.
They want their privacy protected.
In short, this proposed regulation puts the medical privacy of
millions of Americans at risk.
Handing sensitive medical records to federal departments and
agencies which are ill-equipped to protect that information is not a
solution; it is inviting abuse, errors, scandal, and tragedy.
Fortunately, the Bush Administration seems to be more willing
to lead by example when it comes to protecting personal information.
I appreciate the fact that the problems with the VA computer
system have reached the personal attention of Secretary Principi.
I am confident that he is committed to taking the steps
necessary to correct the problems he inherited. Likewise,
Secretary Thompson has recently expressed his willingness to review
and reconsider the Clinton Administration’s HIPAA regulations.
Thank you again, Chairman Buyer for your leadership on this
important issue. Figuring
out how to protect sensitive personal information in today’s
high-tech world is no easy task.
But one thing is certain, the federal government needs to
improve its ability to protect the privacy of the American people.
I
look forward to working with you, Mr. Chairman, and Secretary Principi
to ensure that America’s veterans can feel confident that their
personal medical records are safe and secure. Back to Witness List |