Last week the House Committee on Education and Workforce of the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that would expand the reach of wellness programs to include genetic screening of employees and their dependents and increase the financial penalties for those who choose not to participate. It would also resolve current conflicts between various laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).
The GOP’s Wellness Bill Would Give Employers Too Much Power
Last week, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce of the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that would expand the reach of wellness programs to include genetic screening of employees and their dependents and increase the financial penalties for those who choose not to participate in them. It would also resolve current conflicts between various laws. For a variety of reasons, employers should not want to utilize the greater leverage over employees that this bill would offer. They include higher costs, a lack of evidence that genetic testing is effective in sufficiently increasing the effectiveness of wellness programs (i.e., in improving health or reducing costs), and a likely backlash of employees and consumer, health, and privacy groups.