Senate Passes Genetic Nondiscrimination Bill

Senate Passes Genetic Nondiscrimination Bill

By Joanne Kenen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a landmark bill to bar health insurers and employers from discriminating against people who have a genetic predisposition to disease.

Bill sponsors said that as the mysteries of the human genetic code were unraveled, people needed protection so that breakthroughs were used to treat and heal, not to isolate and discriminate.

"It's about all of us. You could say this is the bill for people with DNA," said Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Human Genome (news - web sites) Research Institute, who was on hand for the vote. "This is the bill for people with flawed DNA -- That's all of us too."

more: Yahoo news story

The health care industry will still get us on "pre-existing health conditions" as soon as we manifest the first symptom. Only the eugenically pure are entitled to health care as long as exclusion for pre-existing conditions is allowed.