VentureBeat - Latest Comments in Personal genomics and the end of insurance

Re: Personal genomics and the end of insurance

Health Insurance Plans — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 11:16:45 -0000

Legacy Planning Group is a business-to-consumer insurance agency that delivers Web-based, insurance information to individuals, families and small businesses who are in need of insurance information.

Re: Personal genomics and the end of insurance

warelock — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:43:16 -0000

Can anyone say GATTACA (the movie)?

Re: Personal genomics and the end of insurance

David Hamilton — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:52:11 -0000

You both make some great points. George Church, among others, also thinks GINA is kind of beside the point, just because it is so easy for anyone to get a sample of your DNA from drinking glasses, shed hair and skin cells, and so forth. That leads to an even greater transparency than before, only this time one that empowers insurers more than ordinary people.

Re: Personal genomics and the end of insurance

Mr. Gunn — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:51:49 -0000

Oh, man...they won't even have to bribe people. Check out the following list of companies to which you can send your cheek swab in return for a customized trinket. Privacy is impossible.

Re: Personal genomics and the end of insurance

Mr. Gunn — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:13:00 -0000

I personally think GINA is misguided and can never work. What happens if the insurance companies start offering people cheaper premiums in exchange for a genetic screening? Remember, they don't have to sign up everyone, just a couple people in your family and they can start making predictions about you.

The only two options are health savings accounts or a national single-payer system, and I agree that health savings accounts aren't likely to work without the option for a government bailout for those who get unlucky, in which case you might as well have had the single-payer system anyways.

Re: Personal genomics and the end of insurance

The Genetic Genealogist — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 22:24:12 -0000

Great article - I've never thought about the insurance issue from that angle before. The intersection of GINA (if not the current GINA then some future version), health/life insurance, and inexpensive genomic sequencing will undoubtedly be explosive. I don't think it's far-off speculation, and it's great that these concerns are being discussed before we run head-first into them.