DNA

This is kind of interesting...at least to me. With our current medical abilities there needed to be a certain set of rules related to DNA mapping and employers. Let's say an employer required a medical exam prior to employment, and drew a little bit of blood and had them map their genetics.

Employers could then exclude employees who had a propensity for certain things. If we really head to this universal health care, then maybe excluding someone won't really save on medical costs. But employers could still spend thousand of dollars training someone who is more likely to have a heart attack, or develop alsheimers, or cancer, etc. They would probably like to to know their money was not being wasted.

It looks like right now the Fed is saying...No can do. But it will be interesting to see if that attitude prevails over the course of time.
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The DNA of GINA: The EEOC Issues Final Regulations Effective January 10, 2011

On November 9, 2010, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued its much-anticipated final rule implementing Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”), which applies to all employers covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), namely, employers with fifteen or more employees, as well as unions, employment agencies and labor management training programs. This final rule is effective on January 10, 2011, and prohibits the use of genetic information in the employment context, restricts an employer’s deliberate acquisition of genetic information, requires employers to maintain employee genetic information as confidential, and strictly limits employers from disclosing genetic information.

This must be a follow up to a law Congress passed 5-6 years ago. Genetic testing was becoming doable for some things like propensity towards breast cancer, etc. However, people were hesitant to get tested because there was a fear that a health insurance company would consider it a pre-existing condition if the test showed that propensity and the woman got breast cancer. Congress passed a law that such tests could not be used in determining a pre-existant condition.

Yes, I agree it will be interesting to see how it plays out as the new health care bill takes effect.

I don't think profiling on the basis of disposition for disease will ever be legal, but it has been going on for centuries with less sophistication. The guy or gal that walks in for an interview and looks like a heart attack waiting to happen has a tougher time getting a job.

We'll get profiling in airports first.