The Senate voted Thursday, April 24, to ban insurers and others from basing
health care coverage on genetic information.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, S. 358, prohibits group health
plans or issuers of individual health care policies from basing eligibility
determinations or adjusting premiums or contributions on the basis of genetic
information. The measure bans health plans and insurers from requesting,
requiring or purchasing the results of genetic tests and from disclosing genetic
information.
The bill prohibits employers from firing, refusing to hire or otherwise
discriminating against workers with respect to compensation and other terms of
employment on the basis of genetic information. Like insurers, employers are
banned from requesting, requiring or buying genetic information.
The House, which passed its own version of the bill last year, is expected to
take up “identical language in the very near future,” according to a statement
issued by the bill’s Senate sponsors on Thursday. President Bush has indicated
he will sign the bill.
Filed by Mark A. Hofmann of Business Insurance, a sister publication of
Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
= Member Only
