Genetic Screening and Life Insurance

Quest Diagnostics recently acquired LabOne, which puts them in the position to get involved in genetic screening of life insurance applicants.  A recent quote from the CFO of Quest (via Medscape):

"Gene-based testing allows you to do predisposition testing, and I don’t know that there’s a lot of that done today on the life insurance side, but certainly that’s an opportunity as we go forward because it gives you a better profile of the individual’s risk," said company Chief Financial Officer Robert Hagemann.

What does this mean for life insurance and those seeking it?  I don’t have the answers to this question at the moment, but the best source of information that I’m aware of on this subject is a recent book edited by Mark Rothstein (who also edited a collection of papers on genetics and privacy).

 Mark Rothstein (editor). Genetics and Life Insurance : Medical Underwriting and Social Policy. MIT Press, 2004.
August 16, 2005 | Filed Under business, diagnostics, genetic-testing, insurance, policy, privacy 

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