Individuals with a colon cancer gene can take medication that prevents polyps from forming. It is ironic that a few health insurers are effectively deterring people from learning health information that could lead them to take advantage of inexpensive preventive care. This is where H.R. 2748 steps in to end the fear and start saving lives. Congress recently passed an incremental health care reform bill, known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum proposal. This legislation takes important steps toward banning genetic discrimination in health insurance, but it does not go far enough.
Loopholes still remain that leave many people vulnerable to genetic discrimination.
If a person is unemployed and has not had access to group insurance in the recent past, an insurer could deny him or her coverage based on genetic information. Further gaps remain in the individual market, where Americans in need of individual plans may have to satisfy a litany of conditions before insurers are required to offer them coverage. And even if those conditions can all be fulfilled, Kennedy-Kassebaum does not prohibit insurers from charging higher rates based on genetic information. These are just a few of the situations that would be addressed by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance Act. My legislation would offer comprehensive protection against genetic discrimination in health insurance.