Greater Protection for Genetic Information
Genetic information soon will be more stringently protected thanks to regulations published today by the United States Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 ("GINA") prohibits health insurers, health plans, and employers from discriminating against individuals based upon their genetic information. Under the interim final rules, group health plans and group and individual issuers may not do such things as raise premiums or impose pre-existing condition exclusions based upon genetic information, and they may not use genetic information for underwriting purposes. These rules will become effective on December 7, 2009.
The Office of Civil Rights ("OCR") also issued proposed rules today modifying HIPAA in accordance with GINA. If these rules are implemented in their current form, "genetic information" will be a defined term and the definition of "health information" will be modified to expressly include genetic information. Among other things, the proposed rules will prohibit health plans from using or disclosing genetic information for underwriting purposes and will require their notices of privacy practices to reflect this prohibition. The public has sixty days, up to and including December 7, 2009, to submit comments to the OCR.
