From a CNN article titled “House sends anti-genetic discrimination bill to Bush,” emphasis my own:
Companies would no longer be able to use genetic information like a person’s predisposition for breast cancer, sickle cell or diabetes to make insurance or job decisions under a bill passed by Congress on Thursday.
The House voted 414-1 for the legislation a week after it passed the Senate on a 95-0 vote. The bill would bar health insurance companies from using genetic information to set premiums or determine enrollment eligibility. Similarly, employers could not use genetic information in hiring, firing or promotion decisions.
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was the only member of Congress to vote against the bill.
President Bush is expected to sign it into law.
Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-New York, said that for years doctors have been forced to tell women whose families have a history of breast cancer to refuse genetic testing for fear of discrimination.
“They have recommended to them that until a bill such as the one we are passing today becomes law in this country, they should not put at risk their health insurance,” Slaughter said.
The use of genetics to determine insurance and benefit eligibility is not unprecedented.
In the 1970s, several insurers denied coverage to blacks who carried the gene for sickle cell anemia. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California secretly tested workers for their disposition to such crippling afflictions as cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“Currently the fear of misuse of genetic information is preventing people from getting these important genetic tests done,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas. “The refusal to utilize effective genetic tests hurts individuals, researchers, and doctors alike. Lack of testing denies individuals important medical information that they could otherwise use to be proactively managing within their health with their doctor.”
Wowsers.
Filed under: election, politics, ron paul | Tagged: genetic discrimination, ron paul
I believe that Ron Paul’s decision to vote against this bill is because he believes that this should be something not regulated by the Federal Government but rather should be decided on by individual states.
Less Federal control, more state sovereignty.
This has been misinterpreted by the media who would have us believe mistakenly that he does not believe genetic discrimination is an issue. He simply won’t vote for a bill that gives the FG more power.
I personally don’t see any problem with the government regulating discrimination. Hello civil rights act? Do you honestly think the any southern states would have outlawed discrimination without it?
Similarly, bills like this are necessary to standardize anti-genetic discrimination across the states.
If it’s a moral issue of equality it’s a moral issue of equality for the whole country, not just select states.