MOST insurance companies in Britain already ask for the results of genetic
tests for inherited diseases. Now the government has given this practice its
seal of approval, by declaring that tests for Huntington’s disease are reliable.
The move has dismayed critics, who say insurers should not be allowed to use the
results of genetic tests.
The Genetics and Insurance Committee (GIC), set up by the Department of
Health, last week approved two tests for Huntington’s. Verdicts on tests for six
other diseases (see Table) are due by June 2001.
The committee’s verdicts do not carry any legal weight. Companies can still
ask for the results of tests that aren’t officially approved, says Suzanne Moore
of the Association of British Insurers (ABI). “But they are very unlikely to go
against the committee’s decisions.”
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“Companies only ask to see the results of tests that have already been
taken,” Moore stresses. “They do not ask potential customers to take genetic
tests. And we are saying they never will.”
Some MPs fear that certain people not only face higher premiums but may be
refused life insurance and mortgages on the basis of their genes. They have
called for insurance companies to be banned from seeing test results. “In the
end this is all about money,” says Labour MP Ian Gibson.
“We are also worried that it will discourage people from taking the test at
all,” says Anna Bradley of the National Consumer Council. “It does raise the
question of whether the government should make sure people rejected for
insurance are provided for.”
In the US, the federal government and its agencies are banned from using
genetic information to discriminate against employees. There are plans to extend
these laws to private companies and insurers.
If the GIC rules that any of the tests now used by insurance companies are
unreliable, the ABI has pledged to refund people who have paid higher premiums
based on the results. Moore also points out that anyone with a family history of
an inherited disorder found not to carry the relevant genetic defect could start
paying less.
“Many who have a family history of a genetic disorder such as Huntington’s
disease have difficulty in obtaining insurance,” says the chairman of the GIC,
John Durant. “The approval of the two tests will allow insurance to be provided
at normal rates to those who have a normal test result.”
There are no laws preventing companies asking people to take genetic tests
before they take out insurance. But the ABI has pledged that companies will not
do this. “Politically, it would be very damaging if they did,” says John Gillott
of the independent Genetic Interest Group in London.
Because people are asked for test results only when they take out a policy,
Gillott says: “I would say get insurance sorted out before you take a test.”