Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act? What exactly is that? To make the story short, this makes the use of people’s genetic information in the workplace and health insurance decisions illegal. It is an important aspect in the age of emerging personalised genetic tests and analyses.
The information that is becoming more and more available to the interested individuals can also be used in their own disadvantage. So it is a crucial matter to take into account and one of the major concerns people have.
“People should be aware that this is not the only kind of discrimination that could be out there. It doesn’t say anything about life insurance, it doesn’t say anything about long term care or disability. So those are still instances where your information could, if it falls in the hands of an insurance company, be used to set a particularly high premium if you are at high risk or even exclude you altogether. At the moment there is no legal prohibition against that. People should think about that before they learn about their own DNA…” Francis Collins, NIH Director
What to pay attention to when you’re signing your medical insurance? Take a look at the interesting discussion with Francis Collins, NIH Director, George Church, Harvard Medical School, Robert C. Green, Boston University and Richard Besser, ABC News.
By Tea Pavlek, MSc, BioSistemika LLC
