PROTECT YOUR DNA

State and federal law already prohibits health insurers from soliciting genetic information, using genetic test results, or considering a person’s decisions or actions relating to genetic testing in any manner for any insurance purpose.  They may not cancel, limit, or deny coverage, or establish differentials in premium rates based on such information.

The bill extends that prohibition to life insurance (including disability income policies) and long-term care insurance. 

The bill does not preclude the insurance company from accessing a medical diagnosis where the diagnosis requires a genetic test.

NOTE

This is much narrower than it may first sound and it is where the insurance companies try to muddy the water.

There are only a tiny handful of diseases that are actually diagnosed using a medical test. In other words, if the test is positive, you have the disease.

The most notable for these diseases is Huntington’s Disease (A fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain; it has no cure; every child of a parent with HD has a 50/50 chance of inheriting the faulty gene; there are approximately 30,000 symptomatic Americans and more than 200,000 at-risk of inheriting the disease - out of around 330 million people).

This is distinct from having the genetic “potential” for a condition. There are genes associated with greater risks for certain disease or conditions. The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes related to breast cancer or the FTO gene related to obesity. The presence of these genes does not mean that you have that condition or that you are predetermined to get that condition.