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Comment by shabble | Hacker News Reader

In places where insurance is required, how do genetic tests interact with preexisting/ongoing condition exemptions? Is a hereditary disease considered to have started at birth, or at the first (approved/licenced) diagnosis?

Would a patient receiving unsolicited results as mentioned in the article be under any obligation to inform their insurers?

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BIG BIG slippery slope here and I'm glad you raised it. When it comes to insurance, "plausible deniability" is the best policy because they can deny coverage for so many petty reasons. I believe Obamacare is supposed to address some of these issues, but not certain. Nevertheless, insurance companies would certainly move for genetic sequencing prior to issuing a policy at some point in the future, it just makes too much business sense for them. Which is why health insurance should be non-profit - to take away the profit motive that corrupts health care.

No. The US Congress already passed a Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act in 2008 that makes it illegal for insurance companies to do this. They won't take your genetic data even if you offer it to them.

Even a non-profit insurance company would want to know about your genetic sequence; if nothing else, it would help them predict how much money they need in order to treat you over the course of your lifetime.

Parent probably meant to mean universal access, not nonprofit. Profit isn't really the issue. For profit insurance with universal access is totally workable

Well in the US 'mandatory' insurance under the AHA removed the ability to turn someone down based on 'pre-existing' conditions.

"Starting in 2014, insurers can no longer carve out needed benefits, charge higher premiums, set lifetime limits on benefits, or deny coverage due to a person’s pre-existing condition."

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/resources/reports/preexisting....

Well there is an interesting one - you have the gene that causes huntingdons. You are born with it. That's about as Pre-existing as it gets - ante natal. Now please give me my insurance at nominal rates. I will be collecting soon

what is Pre-existing. The symptoms? But symptoms are just a means to tell a disease exists. The gene for huntingdons - is that a symptom?

Yeah that's why the mandate exists. Health insurance should shard risk pools that compete on quality of service, not odds of filing claims.

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