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Congress Near Deal on Genetic Test Bias Bill
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Apr 23, 2008 07:01pm |
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| Category | Proposed Legislation |
| Media | Newspaper - New York Times |
| News Date | Thursday, April 24, 2008 01:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Congress reached an agreement clearing the way for a bill to prohibit discrimination by employers and health insurers on the basis of genetic tests.
Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who had been almost single-handedly holding up action on the bill, said in an interview Tuesday that most of his concerns had been resolved and predicted that the bill would pass soon.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said a bipartisan agreement had been reached to move the bill to the Senate floor.
Proponents say the new law, more than a dozen years in the making, would help usher in an age of genetic medicine, in which DNA tests might help predict if a person is at risk of a disease, allowing action to be taken to prevent it.
Some of the tests already exist, like one for breast cancer risk, and new ones are being introduced almost every month. But backers of the legislation say many people are afraid of taking such tests because they fear the results would be used to deny them employment or health insurance.
It passed the Senate by votes of 95 to 0 in 2003 and 98 to 0 in 2005 but was kept from a vote in the House by Republican leadership. Last year, with Democrats newly in control, the House approved the bill 420 to 3. But this year Senator Coburn had placed a hold on the bill, preventing the Senate from voting on it. |
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