Washington, DC – The House today passed U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert’s (R-IL-13th) and U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter’s (D-NY-28th) Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), clearing the bill for the President’s signature. This landmark legislation will prevent discrimination in employment and health insurance on the basis of a genetic test.
“Americans are now just a signature away from reaping the benefits of breakthrough genetic research,” said Biggert. “Make no mistake: this bill will dramatically reduce health care costs while saving or extending human lives.”
Identical to H.R. 1227, a bill Biggert introduced during the last Congress, GINA or H.R. 493, was introduced by Slaughter with Biggert as the lead Republican cosponsor. Once enacted, it will prohibit the improper use of genetic information in workplace and insurance decisions.
“This bill unlocks the great promise of the Human Genome Project by alleviating the most common fear about genetic testing," said Biggert. "It will accelerate research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and allow Americans to finally realize the benefits and health care savings offered by gene-based medicine.”
Studies show that 84% of Americans are concerned that health insurance companies would deny coverage based on genetic information, and 69% of Americans believe employers would deny them jobs because of genetic test results.
“No one should fear for their job or health coverage because of the genes they were born with, and now they won’t have to,” said Biggert.
On average, individuals carry dozens of genetic mutations. Thanks to new technologies resulting from the government’s investment of $3.7 billion in the Human Genome Project, there are over 1,236 predictive genetic tests that can determine if an individual has a high or low risk of suffering from specific diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. With this information, individuals can take steps to mitigate this risk.
In January 2007, President Bush met with cancer researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to urge Congress to pass a bill that will ban employers and health insurers from discriminating on the basis of genetic testing results. “I really want to make it clear to the Congress that I hope they pass legislation that makes genetic discrimination illegal,” Bush said.
Introduced with 143 bipartisan cosponsors, GINA passed the House last April by a vote of 420 to 3 and passed the Senate last week by a vote of 95 to 0. Because the Senate made minor changes to the bill, it was returned to the House, where it passed today by a vote of 414 to 1.
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