Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I mentioned earlier the various groups that are opposed to this legislation because of the privacy concerns, and I actually would like to read or go through some sections from this letter that was sent to Chairman Walden and me from over 100 groups, including the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies. And they say, Mr. Speaker: Dear Chairman Walden and Ranking Member Pallone: We, the undersigned national, State, and local organizations strongly support maintaining the core protections of the Federal substance use disorder patient confidentiality law and its regulations, referred to collectively as part 2. And they say: We remain concerned that using a weaker HIPAA privacy rule standard of allowing disclosure of substance use disorder information without patient consent or other purposes will contribute to the existing level of discrimination and harm to people living with substance use disorders. This will only result in more people who need substance use disorder treatment being discouraged and afraid to seek the healthcare they need during the Nation's worst opioid crisis. We strongly support maintaining part 2's current core protections for substance use disorder information instead of those weaker HIPAA privacy standards for the following reasons. And there are five.…”