Getting Down to Basics

As sound a jump-off point as any is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, known as GINA. This bill gets to the heart of what will be one of the big showdowns of the 21st century, the battle between health-care providers and citizens over whether their genetic information can be used to increase premiums and deny coverage.

This Act was a step in the right direction, shocking given that it passed the Senate 95-0, the House 414-1 (only Ron Paul voted against it) and signed by President Bush. The Act allegedly prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to individuals solely based on their genetic predispositions to developing diseases in the future. The Act also bars employers from using genetic information in hiring, firing and promotion decisions. Senator Kennedy called it "the first major new civil rights bill of the new century." Though Senator Obama came out for the bill strongly during the presidential campaign (what else is new?), he, Clinton and McCain all abstained, probably because the April vote was too close to the election for them to be in Washington for the vote.

While it is always nice to see a bill signed into law that was actively opposed by Chamber of Commerce, there is reason for optimism to stay cautious. New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D) first introduced the bill with bi-partisan support as early as 1995, and every legislative session thereafter. She lamented at one point that "at every juncture we would get more cosponsors than we needed to pass the legislation." Any bill that passes the Senate 95-0 should be held in suspicion to begin with. Slaughter's comments make me think that the lobbyists opposing this bill green-lighted it only after they weakened it sufficiently to fight another day.

As we will see in future postings, individuals' control over genetic information is far from sorted out. Once a person's information is out there, it's hard to imagine it not making into the hands of people who have an interest in it, and similarly hard to imagine health insurance companies and employers not using that information. After all, anti-discrimination laws have never been flawless in preventing discrimination, and when you can put a price tag on our genetic make up, those with an eye on the bottom line won't need to be bigoted to discriminate.