Citation

Publication Date: 2008-03-02
Format: Op-Ed or News Article
Bibliography: Hank Greely, When DNA and Insurance Collide (letter to the editor), New York Times, March 2, 2008.

More

Your article about insurance and DNA illustrated nicely the existence and harmful effects of fear of genetic discrimination, but it may have inadvertently made matters worse.

Ninety percent of Americans cannot be affected by genetic discrimination, either because they get health coverage in ways that do not allow health risks to be considered (Medicare, Medicaid, employer coverage) or because they can’t afford health insurance at all.

Only about 15 million Americans get insurance in ways that could lead to genetic discrimination, but more than 40 states have forbidden discrimination in that kind of insurance. Many states have also outlawed genetic discrimination in employment, adding to the unclear protection of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act will provide clear and broad protection when it passes. People should not avoid medically important genetic tests because of unrealistic fears of discrimination.

And we all must be careful not to worsen the harm caused by those fears.

Other publications by this author

View All

• The Ethics of Characterizing Difference: Guiding Principles on Using Racial Categories in Human Genetics
  2008-07-15
• Cell-Based Interventions for Neurologic Conditions: Ethical Challenges for Early Human Trials
  2008-06-22
• The Genetics of Fear
  2008-06-10
• Strangers at the Benchside: Research Ethics Consultation
  2008-06-01
• On Neuroethics
  2007-10-26
• Implications for Access to Health and Life Insurance
  2007-10-01
• Science and the Supreme Court (Book Review: Jeffrey Toobin, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court)
  2007-09-20
• Covering the Risks
  2007-09-15
• The Uneasy Ethical and Legal Underpinnings of Large-Scale Genomic Biobanks
  2007-09-01
• Neuroscience-Based Lie Detection: The Urgent Need for Regulation
  2007-08-01