Genetic Data and Insurance: GINA Explained

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, usually called GINA, is the main federal law governing how genetic information can and cannot be used in the United States. It has real protections and an important gap. Both matter if you are deciding whether to take a DNA test or how to use the results.

This article is general information about the law. It is not legal advice and it is not insurance advice. For questions about a specific situation, talk to an attorney, an insurance professional, and (for the genetic-information side) a genetic counselor.

What GINA covers

GINA was signed into law in 2008. It has two main titles.

Title I covers health insurance. Health insurers cannot use genetic information to make decisions about coverage, premiums, or benefits. They cannot require or request that someone undergo a genetic test as a condition of coverage. This applies to most group health plans, individual health insurance, and Medicare supplemental policies.

Title II covers employment. Employers with 15 or more employees cannot use genetic information in hiring, firing, promotion, or other employment decisions. They cannot intentionally acquire genetic information about employees or applicants, with limited exceptions (for example, for voluntary wellness programs that meet specific requirements). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces Title II.

Genetic information, for GINA’s purposes, includes the genetic tests of the individual and their family members, and the manifestation of disease or disorder in family members.

What GINA does not cover

This is the gap that matters most for DNA testing decisions.

Life insurance. GINA does not apply. Life insurers can legally consider genetic information in underwriting decisions in most states.

Disability insurance. GINA does not apply. Disability insurers can legally consider genetic information.

Long-term care insurance. GINA does not apply. Long-term care insurers can legally consider genetic information.

In practice, this means a positive genetic test result for certain conditions (a known pathogenic variant in BRCA1, for example, or an APOE risk variant) could legally factor into a life insurance, disability insurance, or long-term care insurance application in most US states.

Whether and how insurers actually use this information varies by company and product. Some life insurers have stated they do not currently ask about consumer DNA test results in underwriting. Others reserve the right to ask. The application typically includes broad questions about medical history and known risks; if you have received a genetic test result that disclosed an actionable risk variant, you may be obligated to disclose it depending on how the question is phrased.

State law variations

Several states have added genetic privacy protections that go beyond GINA. Florida, California, and others have passed laws restricting how life insurers and certain other entities can use genetic information. The specifics vary widely and change over time.

If you live in a state that has enhanced its genetic privacy law, those state-level protections may close part of the GINA gap. If your state has not, the federal floor applies.

Because this changes year to year, we are not listing specific state statutes; check your state’s current law or consult an attorney for specifics.

Other GINA limitations to know about

GINA has additional carve-outs worth understanding.

Military. GINA does not apply to members of the US military or to the US Armed Forces medical system, which has separate genetic information policies.

Small employers. Title II’s employment protections do not apply to employers with fewer than 15 employees.

Already-diagnosed conditions. GINA covers genetic information about predisposition. If a condition has already manifested (a disease has been diagnosed), the disease itself is regulated by other laws (notably the ADA for disability and other anti-discrimination frameworks), not by GINA.

Federal employees. Federal employment is covered, but through different statutory mechanisms than Title II.

For the official summary, see the EEOC’s page on Genetic Information Discrimination.

Practical implications for consumer DNA testing

A few decisions follow from the above.

If you are planning to apply for life, disability, or long-term care insurance and you have not yet bought any of those policies, finishing the insurance underwriting before doing a consumer DNA test that includes health reports is one risk-management approach. It avoids the disclosure question entirely.

If you have already bought those policies, additional testing generally does not affect existing in-force coverage; insurers cannot retroactively reunderwrite based on new information in most products.

If you are considering testing primarily for health reports (as opposed to ancestry alone), the GINA gap is part of what you should weigh. A genetic counselor can help you think through the implications. The National Society of Genetic Counselors maintains a directory at findageneticcounselor.nsgc.org.

If you have already tested and want to keep your results out of any future insurance decision, the standard caveats apply: results in your medical record are accessible during medical-record review in underwriting; results stored only at the testing company are not necessarily so.

The broader privacy framing

GINA is one slice of the genetic-privacy regulatory landscape, and the gap it leaves is one of several reasons people choose to limit what they test for or how. For the rest of the framework, see is it safe to do a DNA test in 2026, DNA test privacy policies compared, and our DNA testing privacy checklist.

For questions about how a specific genetic test result might affect your medical decisions or your family, talk to a genetic counselor. The NSGC directory linked above is the standard starting point.

This piece is part of our Genetic Data Privacy guide.