So soon you may have coverage issues because of genetic issues....

[The Straight Story]

Analysis: Genes and job discrimination

WASHINGTON, Ga., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A new bill recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would prohibit employers from making hiring/firing and promotional decisions based on genetic information showing a worker may contract a disease in the future, and would also prevent health plans from denying coverage or charging higher premiums using those same genetic tea leaves.

---snip

Genetic tests could also help companies design employee wellness programs, which also help cut costs. "We could provide healthcare in a new way and save enormous amounts of money. There are no losers here," she told the panel.

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Other policy experts said the bill should still allow companies to collect such data if they can show the genetic information is relevant to a specific job or to worker safety, and that the bill should make clear that it is not a ticket for workers to sue their employers for failing to provide coverage for certain medical conditions.

Mohit Gose, spokesman for the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans, told United Press International that his group generally supports the new legislation's goal of prohibiting genetic information-based discrimination in coverage and premium policies, but said insurers should still be able to use the information for "improving the quality of healthcare being provided."

http://www.newsdaily.com/Science/UPI-1-20070130-19440700-bc-us-genetic-analysis-crn.xml

A lot more info at link.

[54anickel]

1. How long before this is mandatory, like peeing in the cup for a drug test

to get or keep your job? Cripes - background checks, credit checks, drug tests, now genetic test? No thanks, I'll stay unemployed. Just think of what could be done with a huge database of the genetic makeup of nearly every citizen in this country. What percentage is susceptible to what? Good grief the could kill off or cure us by batches.

Stop the world from turning for a second, I'm all done now and want to get off this strange ride.