House Subcommittee Approves Bill Prohibiting Genetic Discrimination
On March 13, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health approved, by voice vote, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) (H.R. 493) after adopting two amendments. The first amendment, sponsored by Ranking Member Nathan Deal (R-GA) and adopted by voice vote, would exclude long-term care insurance policies from the requirements of the bill. The second amendment, sponsored by Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ), also adopted by voice vote, would prohibit genetic information from being considered a pre-existing condition.
The House Education and Labor Committee approved the bill on February 14 (see The Source, 2/16/07). The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved a similar bill (S. 358) on January 31 (see The Source, 2/2/07).
Chair Pallone said, “As knowledge of the human genome expands, a greater proportion of the population will likely be identified as carriers of mutations associated with a greater risk of certain diseases, indicating that virtually all people are potential victims of genetic discrimination in health insurance…This legislation has tremendous support on both sides of the aisle already. It has cleared the Senate twice under unanimous consent in previous Congresses…We are closer to the finish line than ever before. There is absolutely no reason why we should not work together to pass this bill and get it to the president’s desk.”
“There are a number of concerns by myself and others in the minority on this particular piece of legislation,” said Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX). He continued, “It’s very sweeping. As currently drafted it will add to new civil rights claims, adversely restrict the flow of medical information, affect whether insurers can authorize preventative or personalized treatments, apply to in-house health service providers, and force a range of penalties and punitive sanctions…In its current form, I would recommend a ‘no’ vote.”
House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Genetics and Employment Discrimination
On March 14, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on the bill. The witnesses included Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health; Karen Pollitz, project director at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute; Sharon Terry, president and CEO of the Genetic Alliance; David Escher, a former employee of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad; and Dr. William Corwin, medical director of clinical Policy at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. For more information on each of the witnesses’ statements, please see The Source, 3/9/07, and The Source, 2/2/07).
