Insurance Based on Genetics: a Questionable Proposition

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would bar employers and insurance providers from considering the results of a person’s genetic tests when making hiring or coverage decisions. The House has passed a similar bill and the Bush administration has indicated it would sign legislation of this sort. In the wake of the bill’s passage, however, a number of people have questioned why it shouldn’t be an employer’s or insurer’s right to make decisions based on genetics. As a matter of policy, these questions were answered a decade ago, and the intervening progress in human genetics has only reinforced some of the reasoning of the initial decision.

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