Underwriting Dominantly Inherited Diseases Underwriting Dominantly Inherited Diseases
نویسنده
چکیده
Geneticists worry that their patients and the patients’ families will be subject to unfair discrimination by medical underwriters when the results of DNA tests show that the patients are predisposed to certain diseases. They point out that these individuals may be healthy at the time the test is carried out and that, without the test, they would be considered standard insurance risks. This approach ignores the opportunities for antiselection. It talks of entitlement to insurance. Geneticists also worry about the appearance of a genetic underclass of people who, because they have one or more "genes," will be unable to find a job or to purchase insurance. Much of this concern centers on the problems of health insurance in the United States but it spills over into life insurance because distinctions betxveen different segments of our business become artificial in the mind of the lay public.
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