Would you take an inherited test if your boss asked you to definitely? What if i was told that you'd have to pay if you didn't?
A new bill, HR 1313, would allow companies to penalize their employees when they refuse dna testing, as part of a workplace wellness program. The bill, sponsored by North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, is currently under review using the House Methods Committee.
The bill, dubbed the “Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act,” essentially revokes employees' to privacy for their personal health insurance and genetic information – which is currently protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act and also the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. Congress passed GINA in 2008 specifically to protect employees from discrimination based on potential health problems they carry in their genes.
“What this bill would do is completely take away the protections of existing laws,” Jennifer Mathis, director of policy and legal advocacy in the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, told STAT News.
HR 1313 was introduced early this month and on March 8 was approved by the Republican-leaning House Committee on Education and also the Workforce. The 22 Republicans voted to approve, and all 17 Democrats around the committee opposed. The committee released an argument stating that the bill will give employers “the legal certainty they need to offer employee wellness plans, assisting to promote a healthy workforce and lower healthcare costs.”
The bill is currently being reviewed by other House committees.
Under the Affordable Care Act, employers can offer up to a 30 % discount (50 percent in some instances) on medical health insurance premiums for workers who volunteer to sign up in workplace wellness programs. It was mostly of the provisions in ObamaCare with bipartisan support.
These wellness programs are designed to hypothetically help an employee hit a particular health target, which can vary from lowering their cholesterol to stopping smoking. They're considered voluntary, but employees that do not participate don't get the discount.
This new bill, however, would let companies charge a worker up to 30 % of the total health insurance cost when they choose to opt from dna testing.
“It’s a dreadful Hobson’s choice between affordable health insurance protecting one’s genetic privacy,” Derek Scholes, director of science policy in the American Society of Human Genetics, told the Washington Post. ASHG, together with nearly 70 other medical and health advocacy groups, including ARRP and the March of Dimes, sent a letter towards the committee expressing concerns over the proposed legislation.
On Sunday, Health insurance and Human Services Secretary Tom Price appeared on NBC's “Meet the Press” and said he hadn't yet looked at the bill, but it “sounds like there would be some significant concerns about this.”
