ASHINGTON - In an effort to outlaw discrimination based on genetic makeup, Vice President Al Gore this week will propose legislation to tighten privacy protections over medical information.
Speaking yesterday on ABC's ''This Week,'' Gore said that ''unless we pass these protections, then there are going to be an awful lot of people who will not go and get the tests done.''
Gore said people fear that the genetic tests might show they need treatments that could cause problems with their group health plans or could lead to other workplace discrimination. He said there is strong bipartisan support for medical privacy protections and the ban on genetic discrimination.
The Clinton administration this year banned federal agencies from using genetic testing to deny jobs or promotions to their workers. Gore will propose his extension of the ban to private businesses during a speech Thursday in Atlanta on cancer policy.
Gore also said he wanted to add a provision to the proposed ''patients' bill of rights'' that would require insurance companies to cover experimental ''clinical trials'' in cancer treatment.
''If somebody has cancer and they're covered by insurance, and there is a clinical trial going on that the doctors believe is appropriate for the patient, it ought to be covered,'' Gore said.
While health plans have been increasingly willing to cover the cost to beneficiaries of clinical trials, they have resisted efforts to make coverage a requirement because of the potentially great costs.
In addition, Gore said yesterday he wanted to set aside funds to make specific information about cancer care more quickly available to doctors and hospitals. That information would come from the National Institutes of Health and the Library of Medicine.
Federal funding for NIH research has increased enormously in recent years and has wide bipartisan support.
