HD Advocacy

The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA)

Where is GINA in the legislative process?

This is not the first time that the GINA bill has been in Congress. In 2003, an identical bill was unanimously passed in the Senate (S. 306), but it failed in the House of Representatives (H. R. 1227), and so it never came into law. On January 16th, 2007, the bill was reintroduced by Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) into the House of Representatives with 165 different congressmen and women already pledging their support. On April 25, 2007 GINA passed in the House with a vote of 240 to 3.

The identical bill was introduced into the Senate (S. 358) by Senator Snowe (R-ME) on January 22nd, 2007 with 24 co-sponsors pledging their support. It has been given to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to examine closely and edit if necessary before it is brought back to the entire Senate for further debate and a final vote. For this bill to become a law, both the House of Representatives and the Senate need to approve the same version of it. President Bush has already publicly pledged his support for the GINA, so if both the House and the Senate vote for it, it will likely become enacted into law. This is considered very likely to happen within the next few months.

While GINA would apply to the entire US, many states (at least 41) have already passed their own legislation intended to prevent health insurance companies and employers from genetic discrimination. For more information on specific state legislation, click here. Furthermore, there is a limited amount of existing national legislation on the topic, but there are many gaps in its coverage. Right now, there is no legislation enacted to prohibit the use of genetic information as a basis for charging an individual more for health insurance, to prohibit insurers from requiring individuals to take a genetic test, and to prevent insurers from disclosing genetic information to others. The GINA is intended to remedy many of these problems.

References:

For more information on the GINA, try

1. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.00493:
• the official record of H.R. 493 from the House of Representatives
2. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d110:5:./temp/~bdzw5p::|/bss/d110query.html
• the official record of S. 358 from the House of Representatives

For more information on genetic discrimination and related issues, try

3. http://www.genome.gov/10002077#2
• Information from the National Human Genome Research Institute on genetic discrimination and relevant legislation
4. http://www.meta-library.net/genetics/discrim-body.html
• An article from a source on genetics and ethical issues, very easy to read

For more information on Congress and the legislative process, try

5. www.house.gov
• The House of Representatives
6. www.senate.gov
• The Senate
7. http://www.vote-smart.org/resource_govt101_02.php
• Information on how a bill becomes a law in the U.S.

Last Modified: 07/07/2007

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