Testing for genetic disease - genetic underclass,
flunk the gene test and lose your insurance
 |
Gene
screening for insurance is very controversial but looks
like being approved in many countries. Genetic screening
for disease is already cheap and fast.
|
 |
Federal
agencies are banned from discriminating on the basis of
genetic testing. |
 |
The
Genetics Advisory Commission in the UK has recommended that
insurance companies can ask about previous gene screening.
The Association of British Insurers also supports gene screening
information being given to insurance companies. |
 |
Gene
screening involves taking either a blood or a saliva sample
and testing it for certain known gene defects. |
 |
This
genetic prophecy enables doctors to make accurate predictions
about the risk of future diseases such as alzheimer's disease,
breast cancer, bowel cancer and Huntington's Chorea. |
 |
The
fear is that gene screening for insurance will mean that
some individuals with gene problems will become uninsurable
for life or health cover and will form a genetic underclass,
unable to get a house mortgage for example. |
 |
However
insurance companies are also worried about gene screening.
They know that some companies are already offering saliva
gene screening by mail order. It is also possible
for someone to go to a private clinic and get a gene test
without their own doctor ever knowing the result. |
 |
Such
a person could then go to an insurance company and take
out a huge amount of life or sickness cover without disclosing
the true gene test result, knowing they were likely to become
ill or even die sooner than the average person. |
 |
The
winner in that situation is the person with all the facts
- the losers are all the others who have policies with the
company who at the end of the day will be covering the payouts. |
 |
The
same problem occurred with HIV testing and insurance companies,
where many people found out that they had HIV without telling
their own doctors. When some then took out large amounts
of life cover, their own doctors wrote on their medical
reports that they had a clean medical record, and they got
the cover. |
 |
Insurance
companies then began either excluding HIV-related illness
from payouts, or asked about previous HIV tests. They
also started insisting on HIV tests for anyone who applied
for a large life insurance cover. |
 |
So
the situation is complex. Insurance companies in Britain
may have got the balance about right by going as far as
asking if the person has ever had a gene test and if so
what is the result? |
 |
For
more features and VIDEOS on gene issues - start
here. |