{"entity":{"id":"gina","kind":"term","name":"GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act 2008)","aka":["GINA","Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act","genetic discrimination","genetic nondiscrimination"],"tldr":"A 2008 US law that stops health insurers and employers using your genetic test results against you, so a BRCA or Lynch syndrome result cannot raise your premiums or cost you a job; it does not cover life, disability or long-term care insurance.","summary":"United States, federal statute. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act was signed on 21 May 2008 (Public Law 110-233) after thirteen years of attempts. Title I bars health insurers from using genetic information to set eligibility or premiums or from requiring tests; Title II bars employers with fifteen or more staff from using it in hiring, firing or promotion, enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Primary text: the EEOC statute page and the Congress.gov record of H.R.493.\n\nWhat it changed for cancer: fear of discrimination was the main reason people declined BRCA testing in the 1990s and 2000s. GINA, together with the Affordable Care Act's ban on pre-existing condition exclusions from 2014, removed the health insurance and employment risk, and uptake of hereditary cancer testing rose. Genetic counsellors still explain the gaps: the Act does not cover life insurance, disability insurance or long-term care insurance, does not apply to the military or to employers with fewer than fifteen employees, and protects information about risk rather than a diagnosis already made.\n\nThe arguments: several states (California, Florida, Illinois among others) have legislated to fill the life and disability insurance gap; insurers argue that hidden genetic knowledge creates adverse selection. Elsewhere, the United Kingdom relies on a voluntary code between the government and the insurance industry, and the European Union's GDPR treats genetic data as a special category.","asOf":"2026-09-17","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Information_Nondiscrimination_Act","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Information_Nondiscrimination_Act"},{"label":"EEOC: the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008","url":"https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/genetic-information-nondiscrimination-act-2008"},{"label":"Congress.gov: H.R.493, GINA (Public Law 110-233)","url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/493"}],"tags":["law","us"],"related":["hipaa","gdpr","myriad-ruling","germline-testing","gbrca-mutation","uk-data-protection-act","common-rule"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-hereditary-risk"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Regulation & policy"},"route":"/terms/gina/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"myriad-ruling","kind":"term","name":"Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics (2013)","route":"/terms/myriad-ruling/"},{"id":"gdpr","kind":"term","name":"GDPR and health data (Regulation (EU) 2016/679)","route":"/terms/gdpr/"},{"id":"gbrca-mutation","kind":"term","name":"Germline BRCA mutation (gBRCA)","route":"/terms/gbrca-mutation/"},{"id":"hipaa","kind":"term","name":"HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)","route":"/terms/hipaa/"},{"id":"state-biomarker-testing-laws","kind":"term","name":"State biomarker testing coverage laws","route":"/terms/state-biomarker-testing-laws/"},{"id":"common-rule","kind":"term","name":"The Common Rule (45 CFR 46)","route":"/terms/common-rule/"},{"id":"uk-data-protection-act","kind":"term","name":"UK Data Protection Act 2018 and health data law","route":"/terms/uk-data-protection-act/"}],"technology":[{"id":"germline-testing","kind":"technology","name":"Germline (hereditary) testing","route":"/technologies/germline-testing/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-hereditary-risk","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Inherited risk is mostly unidentified","route":"/bottlenecks/b-hereditary-risk/"}]}}