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Maybe you think it'd be fun to plug your info into Ancestry.com and see what they've got. You've got a decent life, you're living on a fixed income, but you're
by uptown 7y ago
Maybe you think it'd be fun to plug your info into Ancestry.com and see what they've got. You've got a decent life, you're living on a fixed income, but you're able to manage just fine. But you ping Ancestry, and they find you've got a gigantic family tree of relatives who you never knew about. Maybe you don't have any interest in meeting these people, but Ancestry.com sure sees some value in those connections. Maybe they strike a deal with an insurance data broker, and now this broker knows about your relatives as-well. Maybe you've got a genetic history of heart disease, a rare form of cancer, or some other medical condition which leaves you predisposed to being a high-risk candidate for some expensive medical bills in the next few years. So your insurance carrier drops you, or raises those rates to an exorbitant rate that you, on your fixed income, can no longer support. So you drop your coverage, but you get sick. Now you've got some enormous medical bills you can no longer pay for, and a rent bill you're delinquent on as-well. You're unable to get new medical coverage, because the pre-existing conditions laws have since lapsed, and all the major insurance carriers subscribe to the same data that that data-broker provided anyway, so you're likely to find similar insurance prices no matter where you go. So now you've got a medical condition you can't pay for, an apartment that's about to kick you to the curb, and few options to pay for either health or home. But hey -- cool family tree!
- streb-lo 7y agoSounds like an American problem rather than a DNA problem.
- aidenn0 7y agoIt's the dark side of "Information wants to be free." It means that as soon as any information is theoretically public, it becomes practically public.
- georgeecollins 7y agoIn China they use DNA as a way to screen if someone is Uighurs. I think this is a concern for everyone. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/business/china-xinjiang-uighur-dna-thermo-fisher.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/business/china-xinjiang-u...
- magduf 7y agoNo, that's a problem for minorities in China. Sucks to be them, sure, but that doesn't mean it's a problem for everyone on the planet, just like problems affecting Americans are also not problems for everyone on the planet. Everyone has problems. But everyone's problems are not everyone else's problems.
- magduf 7y agoIt's not really a problem right now, because the ACA prevents insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. However, it could certainly become a problem in the future, because half the American population really wants the ACA to be rescinded so that insurance companies can go back to that, and they keep voting for candidates who push this.
- LinuxBender 7y agoThis scenario already happened multiple times in the 1990's. That is why I refused to give the military my DNA. I went through proper channels, submitted the FOIA requests, got tons of paperwork which amounted to "The chief medical officer may decide what is done with your genetic information". I stalled them long enough that I was still able to get out with an honorable discharge. Several marines were not as lucky as I was. It was funny though... the commander said, "Are you afraid we will clone you?" to which I replied, "No sir, you should be afraid you will clone me" and we both laughed because I was right. I explained everything you described and he helped me through the process.