RE: Gene testing and insurance discrimination law

July 14, 2009

There is now a federal law as well called GINA (genetic

information non-discrimination act) which prohibits insurance companies from

discriminating based on genetic test results. It’s safe and secure. I

work in genetic counseling (I am a student halfway through my program), and we

advise patients that there is not a risk from insurance companies due to

genetic results. Remember also that the HLA test result only gives you a risk

for celiac disease, not an absolute answer.

That said, they CAN discriminate based on actual illnesses. I

have not heard of any cases of insurance discrimination based on celiac

disease, as more typically they look for more severe illnesses such as a strong

family history of cancer, or such. I had no worry about putting our doctor’s

name on the Kimball test form, and I don’t worry about having celiac

disease in my daughter’s medical records either.

Hope this helps,

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of misswelch02

Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 6:11 PM

Subject: [ ] Gene testing and insurance discrimination law

Thanks to everyone that recommended labs to get

the gene test done from my earlier post.

We are going to go forward and get the test done at either Prometheus or

Kimball. For Prometheus we would need to go through our doctor b/c we'd have to

do the blood draw test (the saliva test wouldn't work on my toddler b/c of his

age). For Kimball we can order the test on our own - the cheek swab, but we

would need to give them the name of a health care professional they would fax

the results too, along with sending them to us. The healthcare person doesn't

have to be my son's doctor, it could be any family member or friend, they just

need a name.

So my question is even though it's easier we are worried about going through

our doctor for the test for insurance discrimination purposes, but do you think

this worry is founded? I know there's a California Law in place that prohibits

discrimination based off of gene testing results, but the wording is vague to

me and I don't want my son to run into issues later in life. (This is all if

the gene test comes back negative. If it comes back positive we will get our

doctor involved again so it will have to go into his medical records.)

Thoughts?

Recommended Posts