House rejects bill giving insurers access to tests

BOISE – Genetic-test results will stay off-limits to insurance companies when setting disability insurance rates, after a House vote Wednesday.

After a two-day debate, the House voted 44-26 against Senate Bill 1107, which would have let insurers consider genetic-test information when setting prices for long-term-care and disability-income insurance.

Some lawmakers contended that use of such tests is discriminatory and invasive, but supporters argued that genetic information can help keep rates low for everyone.

An Idaho law passed last year forbids using genetic information for determining health insurance rates.

Rep. Margaret Henbest, D-Boise, a nurse practitioner, said private genetic information might be used to deny coverage to people who show a predisposition for disease. Companies also might use genetic information from relatives, she said.

But Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, who sells long-term disability insurance, said genetic information helps give customers with a clean bill of health the best rates. As it is, customers could lie about their health to get better rates.

Nonini likened the measure to auto insurance companies assigning higher rates to people with a record of accidents.

Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, said insurance company representatives had testified that without the bill, insurers might be driven out of the market or raise rates.

“When there’s knowledge that can’t be rated for, it drives the price higher,” he said.

Steve Tobiason, a lobbyist for health insurance companies, sponsored the bill.