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.
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