Posted on 03/10/2017 11:46:58 AM PST by bamahead
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...
My company has had biometric screenings for a few years under the guise that the employee can get discounted insurance rates. I personally think they do it to see who may have chronic illnesses coming and those will be the ones they target for layoffs. I’ve never subjected myself to the screening. Hopefully it won’t be mandatory in the next two years and I will be retired by then.
Gregor Mendel may have started publishing his results by then, but the Library of Congress probably did not subscribe to the journal his articles were published in. James Garfield could have translated them for his colleagues.
Gregor Mendel may have started publishing his results by then, but the Library of Congress probably did not subscribe to the journal his articles were published in. James Garfield could have translated them for his colleagues.
That little fourth amendment thingy is such a bother.
Which is absurdly ironic...
I paid good money for a most respected and expensive genetic profile, because I was adopted and have no meaningful family medical history.
Obama's Department of Health or some such prohibited the genetics company from revealing what I paid the company to find out.
It's been a year and a half...
Minimum passing grade : 90%
No affirmative Action exceptions of any kind.
If the company was 23andMe, I think they were blocked for a time but are again offering medical analyses...but they are not terribly expensive so maybe you meant a different company.
Unfortunately, DNA tests do not reveal where someone was born.
Crap, I couldn’t take being an employee 16 years ago, so stayed working for myself. Sounds like it’s more or less a coins concentration camp type setup now. Effing tyrants.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.