Thomas Daschle: “in an effort to move forward and complete debate on the Patient's Bill of Rights, the Ensign amendment on genetic…”

“in an effort to move forward and complete debate on the Patient's Bill of Rights, the Ensign amendment on genetic discrimination, along with several other proposals, were included in a managers' package without a full vote of the Senate. It must be clarified that there are several problems with the Ensign proposal as offered, and we do not support this approach for dealing with genetic discrimination. First, the Ensign amendment does not comprehensively address the problem of genetic discrimination. This amendment only covers genetic discrimination in health insurance and is silent on discrimination in the workplace. Simply prohibiting genetic discrimination in health insurance, while allowing it to continue in employment is no solution at all. Employers will simply weed out employees with a genetic marker. Additionally, the protections the amendment provides are so riddled with loopholes that health insurance providers would still have substantial access to individuals' private genetic information. Recently, employees working at Burlington Northern Railroad were subjected to genetic testing without their knowledge or consent. The company was attempting to determine if any of the employees had a genetic predisposition for carpal tunnel syndrome--in an attempt to avoid covering any costs associated with the injury. Giving up your private genetic information shouldn't be the price you pay for being employed.”