Insurance firms to screen clients for genetic illness
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Your support makes all the difference.Genetic testing by insurance companies is to be sanctioned for the first time. Ministers this week will approve the use of DNA samples to assess whether a person will inherit the degenerative Huntington's disease.
Genetic testing by insurance companies is to be sanctioned for the first time. Ministers this week will approve the use of DNA samples to assess whether a person will inherit the degenerative Huntington's disease.
The decision, by the Government's expert advisory body on insurance and genetics, will begin a string of applications by the insurance industry to use genetic tests for inherited diseases, including breast cancer.
Opposition MPs and consumer groups say DNA testing for insurance will create a "genetic underclass" of people unable to gain cover. Those with the gene for Huntington's, a fatal disease, may not qualify for life insurance or have to pay higher premiums.
In future, people who have had a DNA test for the disease, and refuse to disclose it to an insurance company, could render their cover "null and void".
Dr Peter Brand, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: "It's going to be very difficult to put this genie back into the bottle. This kind of testing for insurance creates not just a genetic underclass but a health underclass. Testing is very sensible if you can treat the genetic disease, but this sort of testing should be done confidentially. Otherwise people won't be able to gain insurance or mortgages."
The Department of Health set up the Genetics and Insurance Committee, an independent body made of geneticists, actuaries and health experts, to assess genetic tests.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) plans to apply for permission to ask for genetic test results for nine other diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, hereditary breast cancer and myotonic dystrophy.
A spokeswoman for the National Consumer Council said: "This could discourage people from taking a test which may be in their interest. It may stop them from gaining early diagnosis for treatable illnesses."
The insurance industry will be told insurers can use genetic tests for Huntington's to assess life insurance cover, but not mortgage protection or other insurance. Some insurance companies ask for the results of tests, although Standard Life and Cornhill said they will not take account of genetic tests in assessing premiums.
The Huntington's Disease Association said it accepted insurers had to behave as "commercial companies." Around 7,000 people have Huntington's and those who have a parent with the illness have a 50 per cent chance of inheriting it.
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