The social response to genetic conditions: beware of the antidiscrimination law

Abstract

Today's widespread political support for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 rests on the assumption that serious inequities can be eliminated if employers are forbidden from using people's genetic information when making employment decisions. However, this laudable objective runs into serious weaknesses in implementation. Forcing employers to bear the cost of achieving parity between genetically high-risk and low-risk workers will create labor-market distortions that will inevitably shrink insurance coverage for vulnerable populations with genetic abnormalities along with everyone else. A better approach would be to create a politically transparent system of government-provided subsidies.