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Seems like insurance companies could make a tidy profit by requiring all of their customers to get genetic tests, and then strategically deny those with high ri
by techjamie 2y ago
Seems like insurance companies could make a tidy profit by requiring all of their customers to get genetic tests, and then strategically deny those with high risk, and for the rest, raise their rates to unaffordable levels right before they hit the statistical age where the condition in question begins.
Wouldn't surprise me if that ends up being a late stage capitalism strategy.
- gruez 2y ago>raise their rates to unaffordable levels right before they hit the statistical age where the condition in question begins. >Wouldn't surprise me if that ends up being a late stage capitalism strategy. How is your hypothetical any different than being able to buy car insurance 0.1s before a car crash? Sure, it'd be great for the driver, and it'd certainly be bad for the profits of the insurance company, but it'd be absurd to characterize it as "late stage capitalism".
- techjamie 2y agoI'm saying that you get a health insurance policy, and the company requires you to submit a genetic test. Maybe you get that policy at age 30, but you have a genetic marker that, on average, means you will develop an expensive condition at an average age of 55. So you pay premiums for 20 years, but starting at age 50, your rates start to seriously climb. They continue to climb until you're priced out of keeping the insurance and have to drop the policy before your condition comes in, and nobody else will take you now. Besides, the taxpayers end up bailing out these companies constantly. The government is not going to bail out a random patient.