On February 17, the Senate approved, 98-0, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (S. 306). The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved the measure on February 9 (see The Source, 2/12/05).
Sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), the measure would prohibit insurance companies and employers from using the results of genetic tests to deny coverage, raise insurance premiums, or to make hiring decisions. S. 306 also would bar insurance companies and employers from requesting genetic tests and would apply the same procedures and remedies as other forms of discrimination, such as race under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Workers could sue employers who violated the rules.
Sen. Snowe explained that she first introduced the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act after hearing from her constituent, Bonnie Lee Tucker, whose story she shared with her colleagues. “In 1997, Bonnie Lee Tucker wrote to me and told me she was too afraid to have the BRCA test for breast cancer, even though nine women in her immediate family were diagnosed with breast cancer and she herself was a survivor. She was worried that knowledge might damage her daughter’s ability to obtain insurance in the future. Bonnie Lee Tucker was not alone in her fear. When the National Institutes of Health offered women genetic testing, nearly 32 percent of those who were offered a test for breast cancer declined to take it, citing concerns about health insurance discrimination.”
Expressing his support for the bill, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) stated, “Few kinds of information are more personal or more private than a person’s genetic makeup. This information should not be shared by insurers or employers, or be used in decisions about health coverage or a job. It should only be used by patients and their doctors to make the best possible decisions on diagnosis and treatment.” He added, “I hope we can all agree that discrimination on the basis of a person’s genetic traits is as unacceptable as discrimination on the basis of race or religion. No American should be denied health insurance or fired from a job because of a genetic test.”
The Senate approved similar legislation last year, but the House did not act on the bill before the end of the 108th Congress (see The Source, 10/17/03).
