| Insurance - particularly life insurance
- is crucial in terms of family protection and house purchase,
two basic rights in all European constitutions. Unless
you can pay cash, banks may ask you to take out life insurance
if you are applying for a loan to buy a house. Genetic
testing and its links with life insurance have recently
received intensive media coverage in Europe. |
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Insurance companies have always discriminated between applicants
based on the principle of "equal premiums for equal risks".
It's logical that someone at high risk pays more than someone
who is at lower risk. This discrimination is socially accepted
and legally protected.
Results from genetic tests determine for individuals and
their families whether a person has the gene for a particular
disease. The test results indicate that a person will either
definitely get the disease, that they have an above average
chance of getting the disease, or they are a carrier for that
disease.
Insurance companies generally believe that they should have
access to this genetic information. They argue it is just
like any other medical information and is needed for the insurance
company to properly assess its risks.
They claim that if people know they will have a genetic disease
they will most likely want to have life insurance: those at
greatest risk seek the highest levels of cover.
However, the issue is controversial because consumers and
health-care providers generally believe that this information
is the result of medical advances to help find cures for disease.
They argue that the information should be kept confidential
in order to:
a) Prevent
unintended disclosures to insurers, and
b) Prevent
an incentive for "genetic discrimination."
| At the moment, insurance companies are not
asking for genetic test results (except for Huntington's
disease in some countries). Instead, they ask for a declaration
from applicants stating they are unaware of suffering
from any disease. |
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