• Frank
• Apr 25,2008
• In: News

Genetic Non-Discrimination Bill Passes Congress

Wired (via Democracy in America) writes that the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) has passed Congress, meaning that in short order the ability of employers and insurers to “discriminate” based on genetic information will be verboten. Genetic discrimination saves lives, though, as noted by David Veksler in January:

If discrimination based on comprehensive genetic screening is legal, we can expect health providers to tailor plans according to our individual risk factors. That might be to the disadvantage of a minority of high-risk individuals, but greater information about risk factors will lower uncertainty, and thus lower rates overall. Furthermore, insurers will offer incentives to people who take proactive steps to discover health risks and take steps to alleviate them. Expensive procedures such as frequent biopsies or preemptive removal of organs might be fully covered for individuals whose genetic profiles uncover a high cancer risk.