Certain health insurance policies and self-funded employee benefit plans may not require genetic testing before issuing, renewing, or continuing coverage.
(1)(a) Any hospital, medical, or surgical expense-incurred policy or certificate delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed in this state and (b) any self-funded employee benefit plan to the extent not preempted by federal law shall not require a covered person or his or her dependent or an asymptomatic applicant for coverage or his or her asymptomatic dependent to undergo any genetic test before issuing, renewing, or continuing the policy or certificate in this state. (2) This section does not prohibit requiring an applicant for coverage to answer questions concerning family history. (3) For purposes of this section: (a) Clinical purposes includes: (i) Predicting the risk of diseases; (ii) Identifying carriers for single-gene disorders; (iii) Establishing prenatal and clinical diagnosis or prognosis; (iv) Prenatal, newborn, and other carrier screening, as well as testing in high-risk families; (v) Testing for metabolites if undertaken with high probability that an excess or deficiency of the metabolite indicates or suggests the presence of heritable mutations in single genes; and (vi) Other testing if the intended purpose is diagnosis of a presymptomatic genetic condition; and (b) Genetic test means the analysis of human DNA, RNA, and chromosomes and those proteins and metabolites used to detect heritable or somatic disease-related genotypes or karyotypes for clinical purposes. A genetic test must be generally accepted in the scientific and medical communities as being specifically determinative for the presence, absence, or mutation of a gene or chromosome in order to qualify under this definition. Genetic test does not include a routine physical examination or a routine analysis, including a chemical analysis, of body fluids unless conducted specifically to determine the presence, absence, or mutation of a gene or chromosome. History: Laws 2001, LB 432, § 2.