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Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act Impacts the Workplace

November 21, 2009

WASHINGTON D.C. — A landmark antidiscrimination law, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), will begin prohibiting employers from requesting genetic testing or considering someone’s genetic background in hiring, firing or promotions. The law also bars group health plans from rewarding workers with lower premiums or one-time payments if they provide their family medical histories when completing health risk questionnaires.

The act also prohibits health insurers and group plans from setting premiums or deductibles based on such testing, or using genetic information — like a family history of heart disease — to deny coverage. The biggest change is that it prohibits companies with 15 or more employees and health insurers from asking employees to provide their family medical histories.

The new law (commonly called GINA) was passed by Congress last year because many Americans feared that if they had a genetic test, their employers or health insurers would discriminate against them, perhaps by firing them or denying coverage. In a nationwide survey, 63 percent of respondents said they would not have genetic testing if employers could access the results.

The act and its accompanying regulations allow group health plans to request family medical histories to help determine whether an employee should be placed in a disease management or wellness program to combat, for instance, high blood pressure. The regulations stress that employees must give that information voluntarily and that the group plan cannot request such information before health plan enrollment or use it in any way for underwriting.

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