House Passes Genetic Nondiscrimination Law

We recently wrote about the Senate’s passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, a federal law that would prohibit employers from discriminating against employees based on the results of genetic tests and also prohibit health insurance companies from relying on the results of genetic tests in setting premium rates or making enrollment eligibility decisions.

The good news is that on May 1, 2008, the House got on board by passing an identical version of the bill, by a margin of 414-1, with the only dissenting vote coming from Texas Republican and former presidential candidate Ron Paul.

President Bush has already expressed his support for the law and is expected to sign it in the near future.