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The article reports that the U.S. House has passed a genetic nondiscrimination bill that has been languishing in the Congress over a decade. The bill passed the Senate earlier, and the White House has indicated its support. The bill makes it illegal to deny insurance or employment to people based on their genetic information. It also bars employers or insurers from requiring genetic tests, except in certain cases regarding hiring for law enforcement crime labs and the armed forces.

The article reports that the U.S. Senate has passed a genetic nondiscrimination bill that has been languishing in the Congress for over a decade. House leaders expect to take up the same bill and pass it quickly and send it to the White House. The measure would make it illegal to deny insurance or employment to people based on their genetic information.

The article presents a quotation from U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy. He was talking on the Senate outlook for a genetic nondiscrimination bill that was on the House floor. He said that they are talking to the secretary of Health and Human Services to try to persuade him. He added that it isn't a her, it's a him, not a Democrat, not from the Eastern part of the country nor from the Western part of the country.

The article reports that the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee has voted unanimously to bar group health insurers from jacking up rates for covered groups on the basis of genetic ailments in members of the group. Although similar legislation has twice passed the Senate, the House has not followed suit. Provisions in the bill expressly ban a group health plan from collecting genetic information. A genetic test is an analysis of human DNA, RNA, chromosomes, proteins, or metabolites.