GINA – Doctors side with legislation

Following my article on GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act), the influential doctors’ group, the American College of Physicians (ACP), wants the GINA to become law.

The ACP does not directly address the concerns of employers or health insurance companies, but sides with the GINA supporters on individual rights to insurance protections. The ACP agrees that insurance providers should not be able to use an individual’s genetic information to deny or limit health coverage or establish eligibility, enrolment, or to set requirements. In addition, ACP said insurers should be prohibited from setting different premium rates based on an individual’s genetic information.

ACP also said it should be illegal for employers and insurers to require individuals or their families to undergo genetic testing and that written and informed consent should be mandatory for disclosure of genetic information. 

Conversely the insurance industry group American Health Insurance Plans has said it that although it supports the passage of a genetic discrimination law, GINA is not quite the law it wants.  The Group’s spokesperson William Corwin, the medical director of clinical policy at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, said the law could get in the way of “appropriate health care decision-making.” He also advised that the Group had expressed concerns that there may be many “unforeseen advances” that could create circumstances where insurance companies would “need to request genetic tests to determine whether customized therapies or treatments are warranted.” Corwin also said GINA would stop health insurers from using genetic testing to identify “patients who may benefit from specific types of screening or disease management services”

The Personalized Medicine Coalition, which is comprised of R&D Universities and hospitals, clinical lab testing companies, patient advocacy groups, and government partners, has consistently backed the adoption of such a law.

Elaine Warburton  www.geneticsandhealth.com