The The GINA law discussed here was passed in 2008.
What the bill says health-insurance wise is that "genetic" information about medical risk can not be treated like a pre-existing condition.
Let's think this through, for people in states where pre-existing-condition screening is allowed (45 states allow it for individual insurance, even for honest, non-freeloading people who responsibly maintain continuous health insurance coverage).
What does this do? People who have avoided paying for health insurance can get genetic tests, find out if they are very likely to an expensive disease, and can pick up and pay for health insurance only if they are likely to get such a disease. Thus, we have a real freeloading problem. Then honest, responsible people, who want to pay a fair average-sickness-cost-for-an-average-person (i.e. "pooled risk" cost) for health insurance, have to pay much higher costs than that fair "pooled risk" cost, owing to all the freeloaders who just bought the insurance because a genetic test told them they would have expensive medical costs!
And, to boot, this freeloading cost to the honest person buying health insurance, which will get worse over time (as more genetic information tests for diseases get invented), is in addition to the already miserable 60%-75% payout ratios for individual insurance. (That is, the insurance company only pays out 60%-75% in medical bills for every dollar of premium it collects.) And now, how much extra of those 60-75% goes to those freeloaders who just picked up insurance when they found out from a genetic test that they would get a disease? Not to mention the money the honest insured pays already for cost shifting (due to mandated hospital emergency-room treatment for the uninsured and underinsured who can not pay). What a ridiculous, unfair burden on an honest middle class citizen just trying not to freeload, and just be insured!
Thus, we have one new addition to the spiral of wastefulness, financial danger to the citizens, health danger to the citizens, with the current health insurance system making the insurance system more ridiculous. Time to go for full Health Reform now!
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