House Subcommittee Considers Bill That Would Prohibit Genetic Discrimination

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health on Thursday held a hearing on legislation (HR 493) to ban discrimination against U.S. residents based on the results of genetic tests, CQ HealthBeat reports. Health Subcommittee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said that some individuals might forgo participation in genetic testing "out of concern for possible repercussions, therefore losing the opportunity to receive monitoring and preventive care for conditions in which they are at higher risk." He noted that many states have laws banning genetic discrimination, but because they vary widely, a federal standard is needed. Burton Fishman of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination in Employment Coalition at the hearing said, "The law should not trigger liability based on an employer's mere receipt of genetic information, such as through conversation concerning a relative's illness or derived from such normative behavior as visiting the sick and consoling the bereaved." Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH said, "This is an issue of equity. This is an issue of justice." William Corwin -- medical director of clinical policy at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care who testified on behalf of America's Health Insurance Plans -- said the bill as drafted might limit health plans from using genetic tests to promote preventive screening and disease management programs (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 3/8).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.