As a cruel corollary to taking away affordable health insurance from not just the millions who benefited directly from Obama Care but also the general population of America—everyone besides those in the ruling caste and the independently wealthy—the Republican party have sponsored another resolution, as Boing Boing informs, that seems impossible to halt that would enable employers to coerce their employees to submit to DNA screenings or face stiff consequences. Privacy and right to refuse disclosure was previously protected by a 2008 expansion of civil liberties protections called the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) that helped to protect those who might be predisposed to being a bad insurance-risk in the eyes of underwriters.
A company, just because it contributes to its employees’ health coverage, could not force employees to undergo any testing against their will or own up to any future problem that a doctor had discussed with them in confidence, but now all those safeguards are undermined, since the government will allow DNA screenings to be incorporated into workplace wellness programmes, something completely voluntary but something that companies can also accentuate and incentivise however they choose. This is state-based eugenics—even if an individual benefited by participation by discovering some ticking time-bomb in time to diffuse it, no company would insure them and probably none would employ them either. What do you think? Let’s hope this is quickly remedied in America and never has the chance to be exported. It’s far more fraught with peril than the algorithms that pass judgement on our spending-power and is another hallmark of inward-turning ignorance that rejects scientific literacy and exploits an opportunity for profit without considering the repercussions. With workers surrendering their genes and traits that they could potentially pass along, business (with the government’s consent) are not far from instituting breeding programmes and sterilise those of us of inferior or subversive stock.
Sunday 12 March 2017
sorry gina
Saturday 11 March 2017
proost!
Taking advantage of the nice Spring weather, we had a chance to visit an outdoor Belgian cafรฉ and got the chance to give a proper toast to our friends in the newly discovered solar system hosted by a red giant in the constellation Aquarius, some forty light years distant.
catagories: ๐ง๐ช, ๐ญ, food and drink
Friday 10 March 2017
hr 1275
Amidst the flurry of coverage, I missed the fact that the House Resolution that replaces the Affordable Care Act is actually called the “World’s Greatest Healtcare Plan of 2017.” That really throws down the gauntlet, I think, and is inviting challengers to come up with something better, which is a pretty low bar for access. Perhaps one without lifetime caps, mental healthcare coverage, coverage for reproductive health and support for new families, affordable rates for the elderly and infirm? What superlatives would you give to Dear Leader’s other real or threatened accomplishments of corporate welfare and codified xenophobia?
catagories: ⚕️