Regional news: 
Aussie life insurers wrong in supporting DNA underwriting
Tony Ondrusek is founder and publisher of Insurance & Financial Advisor and IFAwebnews.com.
How much privacy would American consumers be willing to sacrifice for a chance to lower their life insurance premiums, if giving up that privacy might actually find them paying higher premiums?
Australian life insurers are supporting the practice of using genetic test results in underwriting, according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Some academics have denounced the practice.
But at least one Australian life insurer is offering as much as a 50% discount on life insurance premiums, if a voluntary genetic test shows that the policyholder or potential policyholder has little risk in their DNA, according to a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Some argue that a unfavorable test could increase premiums.
Using genetic testing, in my opinion, is an issue that must undergo much more scrutiny and testing before being used as an underwriting tool. While factors such as smoking, weight, past health experience, etc., can predict an individual’s future health and life concerns, using the health history of others — namely, the parents and ancestors who passed along an individual’s genetic code — should not be used in underwriting.
Britain stopped the practice some years ago (it may return in four years), and the U.S. would be wise to follow the leader and refrain from this as-yet Orwellian practice.
For those “down under,” a few bucks in savings might be worth it for some, but how far are they willing to go with opening up their lives — and their basic cellular structure — to the scrutiny of the corporate world?
2 Responses
- James McLaren Says:
February 16th, 2010 at 1:55 pmLife inspectors originaly inspected the proposer. Invasion of privacy? Then we got the Personal Medical Attendants report, a worthy source of income for physicians. Now we have something better, DNA analysis. So, you want the cover, you open your life state. Stop smoking,; smoking subjects you to a tougher mortality table. AStandard Life in the UK was built on no acceptance of anything other than standard lifes. They obviously checked the propser,
Life insurers using UK law can shelter behind good faith proposal requirements. In the USA, once accepted, then you are on cover. So in the USA there are such matters as special investigators reports. Private life?
DNA analysis is here, get used to the idea. As for myself, I had 7 years added to my age. However, that was for an annuity!
- Linda Bruzzone Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 4:52 pmI would opt for life far more than I would be concerned about being denied life insurance. I guess it comes down to how much is human life valued?
In the U.S., many individuals with genetic predispositions are not discriminated against. This year,in respect to genetic information the federal government began enforcing anti-discrimination action. Life insurers can still deny based upon genetic information, however health insurers may not. Many life insurers still insure for Lynch syndrome…dependent upon whether it is Lynch syndrome 1, solely of the colon and in which there has been prophylactic surgical removal of the colon, and Lynch 2, which affects most of the organs below the lungs, the skin and the brain.
Genetic testing is a blessing for those of us who have genetic syndromes. In the case of cancers, it allows physicians to work with those at high risk for cancers and test them annually. The rate of cancer has decreased as a result of early diagnosis and early treatment and life expectancy has increased.
To know one’s risk for disease not only allows one to protect one’s self, but also protect one’s families, because when dealing with inherited gene mutation, missing a diagnosis of one person is missing the diagnosis of several dozen individuals.
Ask yourself, if there was a test that was available that could predict whether or not you or your loved ones would get cancer and there was also technology that provided annual testing to catch cancer early before it became a serious issue..and the technology may give you twenty or more years of life, what would you choose? Life or life insurance?
Think about it and also think about how you value life.
Genetic testing has saved many, many lives. Please visit us at http://www.lynchcancers.com to learn more about the inherited cancers of Lynch syndrome.
