Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act or “GINA"
December 09, 2020Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act or “GINA"
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Information
With Karina Brierley, MS, CGC, Genetic Counselor, Smilow Cancer Genetics and Prevention Program
ID5983
To CiteDCA Citation Guide
- 00:00In terms of privacy, you know there
- 00:03is a broad law that was passed in
- 00:072008 called the genetic Information
- 00:09Nondiscrimination Act or Gina for short
- 00:12and so that was really passed. Not
- 00:16as much that we had a lot of evidence
- 00:20of concerns, but just to give
- 00:22people that kind of extra layer of
- 00:25reassurance that it provides protections
- 00:27in terms of health insurance,
- 00:29an employment that you know from genetic
- 00:32discrimination so from insurers or
- 00:34employers using genetic information to
- 00:36make decisions and to discriminate against
- 00:39people in terms of health insurance,
- 00:42it provides protections that say health
- 00:44insurers can't use or ask that information
- 00:47to determine coverage to determine.
- 00:49'cause those kinds of things
- 00:51in terms of employment.
- 00:53Again, it's the employers can't ask
- 00:55for user require that information
- 00:57to make hiring and firing decisions,
- 01:00payment promotions, things like that.
- 01:02There are certainly some
- 01:04gaps in that coverage,
- 01:06so the important ones being
- 01:08that for health insurance,
- 01:09it doesn't necessarily cover patients that
- 01:12are involved in certain federal health
- 01:14systems like the military or veterans.
- 01:17There are other policies and things in
- 01:19place that provides similar protections,
- 01:22but it's not covered under.
- 01:24Gina for other insurers,
- 01:26so life insurance disability long
- 01:28term care those are not covered
- 01:31by Gina for employment.
- 01:33Small employers less than 15
- 01:35people aren't covered by Gina,
- 01:38so there are certainly some gaps,
- 01:40but it does provide some
- 01:43good protection as well.