It Might Soon Be Legal for Employers to Force You Into a Genetic TestSy Mukherjee
12:49 PM Eastern
http://fortune.com/2017/03/10/genetic-testing-workplace-wellness-bill/Say your employer wants you to get a genetic test. You politely decline because you consider it a gross infringement of privacy. Well, too bad—your monthly health insurance payments just spiked 30%.
This could be the reality under HR 1313, the
Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act, a House GOP-sponsored bill that would essentially allow companies with workplace wellness programs to demand your genetic information (or force you to pay a big penalty).
The legislation has now passed a House committee on a straight party line vote,
reports STAT News, with all 22 Republicans unified in support against 17 Democratic detractors. The bill is expected to be latched on to a second Obamacare-related legislative effort that will be a followup to the main GOP health care plan
now working its way through Congress.
Currently, employers with ostensibly voluntary workplace wellness programs can force their workers to pay 30% more (and up to 50% more for smokers) toward their company-provided health insurance benefits if they choose not to participate - provisions that were actually passed as a part of Obamacare and then cemented by the Obama administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The wellness programs
typically include basic biometric screenings, access to gym memberships, and health care-related questionnaires.
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Excerpt. Read more at link.