New Bill Would Allow Employers To Demand Genetic Testing From Workers (businessinsider.com)

capedgirardeau quotes a report from Business Insider: A little-noticed bill moving through the U.S. Congress would allow companies to require employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and would let employers see that genetic and other health information. Giving employers such power is now prohibited by U.S. law, including the 2008 genetic privacy and nondiscrimination law known as GINA. The new bill gets around that landmark law by stating explicitly that GINA and other protections do not apply when genetic tests are part of a "workplace wellness" program. The bill, HR 1313, was approved by a House committee on Wednesday, with all 22 Republicans supporting it and all 17 Democrats opposed. The 2008 genetic law prohibits a group health plan -- the kind employers have -- from asking, let alone requiring, someone to undergo a genetic test. It also prohibits that specifically for "underwriting purposes," which is where wellness programs come in. "Underwriting purposes" includes basing insurance deductibles, rebates, rewards, or other financial incentives on completing a health risk assessment or health screenings. In addition, any genetic information can be provided to the employer only in a de-identified, aggregated form, rather than in a way that reveals which individual has which genetic profile. There is a big exception, however: As long as employers make providing genetic information "voluntary," they can ask employees for it. Under the House bill, none of the protections for health and genetic information provided by GINA or the disabilities law would apply to workplace wellness programs as long as they complied with the ACA's very limited requirements for the programs. As a result, employers could demand that employees undergo genetic testing and health screenings.

Comments

Re:Yes those emails

[jpatters]

The emails were a felony only in your imagination. If the Republicans keep pulling shit like this they will become even more irrelevant in reality than you imagine the other party is.

Re:Those emails, though

[PopeRatzo]

The committee is not the entire House. If you think all GOP are going to support it you're insane.

No, the ones who are in vulnerable districts will be given a pass, but only after they know they have enough Republican votes to pass it. This phenomenon even has a name. It's called the "Hastert Rule", proudly named after its inventor, a long-time Republican House leader who was also a pedophile and is currently in prison.

Fake news ahoy!

[rsilvergun]

I was wondering about this so I googled it. Dems opposed mandatory wellness back in 2013. tranquilidad is full of it. Got modded up to +5 even.

Re:Republican Freedom

[OrangeTide]

Thank you for voting Democrat in 2008 and 2012 - you helped more than double my insurance costs

You can blame lobbyists and the Republican filibuster on earlier attempts for single payer. Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was a compromise reached through negotiation with insurance lobbyists. It is modeled on the earlier Massachusetts Accountable Health Care act (Romneycare), and mainly adds requirements for insurance providers to cover preventative care and has provisions to expand Medicare. But the rest of it remain the same, it's an expansion of a system that Massachusetts already has operated successfully.