Use of Genetic Information By Health Insurers
Health insurers do not currently require applicants for coverage to undergo genetic testing. Employer-sponsored group coverage is underwritten on a group basis, rather than an individual basis. Thus, the future use of genetic information in medical underwriting is a significant potential issue only for the individual health insurance market. However, the cost of covering diagnostic genetic tests and genetic treatments is likely to be an issue for all forms of health insurance. When insurers encounter genetic information, it is subject to the same confidentiality protections as any other sensitive health information. Because of their long-term nature, genetic information is a potentially much more significant issue for individually purchased Disability insurance and Long term care insurance.
Read more about this topic: Genetic Discrimination
Famous quotes containing the words genetic, information and/or health:
“Nature, we are starting to realize, is every bit as important as nurture. Genetic influences, brain chemistry, and neurological development contribute strongly to who we are as children and what we become as adults. For example, tendencies to excessive worrying or timidity, leadership qualities, risk taking, obedience to authority, all appear to have a constitutional aspect.”
—Stanley Turecki (20th century)
“Computers are good at swift, accurate computation and at storing great masses of information. The brain, on the other hand, is not as efficient a number cruncher and its memory is often highly fallible; a basic inexactness is built into its design. The brain’s strong point is its flexibility. It is unsurpassed at making shrewd guesses and at grasping the total meaning of information presented to it.”
—Jeremy Campbell (b. 1931)
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—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)