[Volokh] Russell Korobkin: The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Russell Korobkin:
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act 
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_04_27-2008_05_03.shtml#1209705476


   Today, the House of Representatives passed the Genetic Information
   Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) by a vote of 414-1, joining the Senate,
   which passed the bill last week 95-0. In addition to prohibiting
   discrimination in employment on the basis of genetic conditions, GINA
   prohibits health insurerance companies from denying coverage or
   determining premiums based on a customer's gentic information, which
   is defined broadly to include family history of health conditions.

   The Act provides important protections, not only for customers in the
   individual health insurance market, but also for small employment
   groups with one or more individuals who have a high likelihood of
   suffering a genetically-linked illness. (Federal law prohibits health
   insurers from discriminating against any individual in the group
   insurance market, but the expected costs of covering the individual
   can be spread equally across all members of that group). The Act also
   will remove a disincentive for healthy individuals to take genetic
   tests because of fear that knowing the results will cause insurability
   problems.

   In an op-ed piece in last Saturday's Los Angeles Times ([1]here), I
   argue, however, that the law does not go far enough, because it still
   allows discrimination in coverage and pricing of insurance based on
   any conditions the individual customer has or has had in the past.
   Hopefully, GINA will be the initial step toward a legal regime in
   which health insurance premiums are community rated within age bands,
   with differential pricing allowed for risky behaviors that are
   individually controllable (such as smoking) in order to minimize moral
   hazard.

References

   1. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-korobkin26apr26,0,7623022.story