mr. chairman , i rise today in support of the markey-emanuel amendment which is part of the en bloc amendment proposed by chairman regula . 
our amendment is simple and straightforward . 
it requires patients to be notified if their medical records contained in the new national health information network are lost , stolen or used for unauthorized purposes . 
while a national health information network could provide significant benefits for the entire medical community , that network must come with guaranteed privacy protections . 
as the revelations by mastercard and visa that the personal information of as many as 40 million customers was compromised demonstrates , identity theft has become an epidemic . 
a national health information network without strong privacy protections would undermine all of its other benefits . 
without privacy protections , patients wo n't have confidence that their medical records will be kept confidential , which is essential to quality health care . 
in the 108th congress , i introduced legislation to protect credit consumers ' sensitive medical information . 
that bipartisan legislation was signed into law last year . 
by `` blacking out '' health information , we created a zone of privacy and gave consumers the confidence that their medical records are being protected . 
we should do the same thing here . 
mr. chairman , major data security breaches are occurring on a daily basis and identity theft is the fastest-growing white collar crime in the country . 
it 's essential that we get this right at the beginning by making strong privacy protections a part of this health information network . 
