Health insurance law aims to prevent genetic discrimination

The Health Insurance Portabil-ity and Accountability Act passed by Congress in 1996 provides protection for patients who undergo genetic testing and find that they are genetically predisposed to a certain disease. If a woman undergoes breast cancer genetic testing and finds that she carries BRCA 1, for example, health insurance companies cannot treat her as having a pre- existing condition or refuse to provide coverage for breast cancer should she develop the disease.

"This protection is a significant first step," says Judith L. Lichtman, president of the Women’s Legal Defense Fund in Washington, DC. Lichtman tells Medical Ethics Advisor that the "little-known but important provision" of the new law is the first federal prohibition against genetic discrimination.