The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act — A Half-Step toward Risk Sharing

Russell Korobkin and Dr. Rahul Rajkumar write that GINA is emblematic of this country's piecemeal and inconsistent approach to health care policy, which makes little sense and leaves many Americans without access to care or in danger of financial ruin if they seek care. Dr. Francis Collins discusses the provisions of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act and its likely effects on patient care and clinical research. Dr. Collins is director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Consider three Americans — one with an increased genetic risk for colon cancer, one with a family history of colon cancer, and one with a colonoscopic finding of several large adenomatous polyps. Under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which was recently signed into law by President George W. Bush, health insurance companies may not refuse to cover and may not raise premiums for the first two people, whose genetic information or family history puts them at higher risk for colon cancer. 1 Insurers could, however, refuse to sell the third person an individual policy or could quadruple his or her . . .