Snowe against discrimination by health insurers

by Nicolas Parasie

WASHINGTON - Bonnie Lee Tucker of Hampden, Maine, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989 and again in 1990. Her mother was a breast cancer victim. So have nine other close relatives.

A genetic test could show whether Tucker's daughter has a high risk of contracting breast cancer. But Tucker, now 53, doesn't want the 25-year-old to take it for fear she might face job and insurance discrimination.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Tuesday that is intended to relieve such fear. The measure would prevent health insurers from denying coverage or raising premiums on the basis of genetic information and would make it illegal for employers to use such data when hiring or firing. Violators could be fined up to $300,000.

Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe is the principal sponsor of the bill, the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2003, which the Senate passed, 95-0.

Snowe said her bill "provides the protection people need in order to seek out their individual genetic information in the hopes of treating and maybe even preventing the onset of disease."

She said in a statement that "it simply isn't right that the very information which may lead to a healthier life and the prevention of a disease may also lead to the denial of health insurance or higher rates. Americans shouldn't have to make a choice between taking charge of their own care or keeping their insurance."

Snowe said she introduced the bill after Tucker wrote to her in 1997.

"I am happy the bill proceeded with bipartisan support," Tucker said. "Hopefully, employers don't have the opportunity to go through your medical files anymore."

Early detection through genetic testing is one key to surviving breast cancer, Tucker said. Her daughter, Laura, has not taken such a test yet, Tucker said, because she is afraid she might be the subject of discrimination.

"I hope that with this bill my daughter can be free of worries to be tested, so that she can go on with her life.áThese companies are not going to save money on my daughter," she added.

For some women, the risk of breast cancer rises if they have a hereditary defect in one of two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, whose presence can be detected through genetic testing.

Tucker wrote Snowe "about her fear of having the BRCA test because she worried it would ruin her daughter's ability to obtain insurance in the future," Snowe said. "And Bonnie Lee isn't the only one who has this fear."