Resources for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

GINA: A Solution in Search of a Problem?

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Congress has passed – and the President is expected to sign – a bill prohibiting discrimination by health plans and employers based on an individual’s genetic makeup. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) will apply to health insurance programs one year after it becomes law. The employment provisions will apply six months later.

There appears to be little reason for a new federal law outlawing genetic discrimination, as there are only a handful of reported instances of genetic discrimination by employers and insurance companies. Genetic-based discrimination by health plans has been outlawed since 1996 under HIPAA’s rules prohibiting discrimination on the basis of health status.

But it’s an election year, and sometimes Congress plucks at easy, low-hanging fruit in order to appear to have accomplished something worthwhile. To be fair, HIPAA did not address genetic-based discrimination in hiring, firing or other terms and conditions of employment, and in the absence of federal regulation a number of states enacted laws that address genetic discrimination. Congress decided it was time for a federal standard.

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