Some patients may have questions regarding health insurance discrimination and what protections are currently in place to prevent it. This section of the Resource Guide is provided to aid you in these discussions and provide you with the most recent information regarding genetic privacy issues.

What is Genetic Health Insurance Discrimination?

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) defined genetic health insurance discrimination as using genetic information or an individual's request for genetic services, to deny or limit health insurance coverage or establish eligibility, continuation, enrollment, or contribution requirements.

Does Genetic Health Insurance Discrimination happen?

To date, there have been no well-documented cases of health insurance discrimination based on results from hereditary cancer genetic testing.

What laws are in place to protect someone from genetic health insurance discrimination?

Currently the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provides protections against insurance discrimination in several ways. Complete HIPAA information can be found at www.cms.hhs.gov/HIPAAGenInfo.

	The HIPAA Privacy Rule protects genetic information and prohibits improper disclosure
	HIPAA prohibits group health plans from using genetic information as a basis for denying, canceling, or limiting eligibility for coverage.
	Genetic information in the absence of a current diagnosis of illness shall not be considered a preexisting condition.
	Employment decisions cannot be based on protected genetic information.

Additionally, many states have passed laws that prohibit genetic insurance discrimination. For a complete listing of the state laws and other information about insurance discrimination, please visit www.genelaw.info .

For a fact sheet on genetic discrimination, click here (pdf).

How does Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Inc. protect my genetic test result?

It is Myriad's policy that test results are disclosed only to the requesting physician/designee and are not disclosed to anyone else (including insurance carriers) without the written permission of the patient.

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