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In the US, Congress has passed a law that explicitly makes that specific practice illegal: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Information_Nondiscrimination
by jrib 6y ago
In the US, Congress has passed a law that explicitly makes that specific practice illegal: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Information_Nondiscrimination_Act https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Information_Nondiscr...
What workarounds insurance companies come up with to circumvent the spirit of the law and how well it can be enforced will be interesting.
- FerretFred 6y agoWhat workarounds insurance companies come up with to ... will be interesting If there's enough money to be made, I'm sure the Usual People will be persuaded to bend the law until it gives way.
- alexpotato 6y agoAnd George W. Bush, a Republican, signed this into law. I remember thinking that strange at the time because I would have thought insurance companies would want to be able to use DNA information and the Republicans being more of a "big business" party would have supported that. Also, I found out last time this discussion came up on HN that the law prevents it being used for regular insurance but does not apply to life insurance.
- astura 6y agoAnd life insurance could just simply demand a dna sample from you before underwriting a policy just like they might demand a physical so the whole "concern" is entirely moot. Insurance is highly regulated, insurance companies have specific legal ways to underwrite policies, the idea that life insurance companies are going to secretly use stolen data of uncertain provenance in their underwriting instead of just making you submit a dna sample is, quite frankly, silly.