NurseWeek

Gene testing
worries consumers

Reuters Health
July 6, 2000


	You've read the article. Now tell us what you think. American Association of Health Plans The Foundation on Economic Trends Gene testing information from the Human Genome Project

Chicago. Now that a working draft of the human genome has been completed, the health insurance industry is trying to calm fears that consumers will be denied future coverage because they carry potentially fatal genes.

"There is concern among women who say, 'If I'm screened for breast cancer and I find I have it, I could be denied coverage,'" said Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that focuses on biotechnology."A lot of women are not taking the test because once they find out it's in the family tree, they're afraid their daughters and sisters will be denied insurance."

Insurance industry officials said existing laws already prohibit them from denying coverage based on an individual's pre-existing health condition.

"If you're 20 years old and you know you're at risk for some major chronic condition, people are asking the question, 'Rather than using [the information] to help me, will that information haunt me?'"said Susan Pisano, spokeswoman for the American Association of Health Plans. "What I'm saying is that by and large, we're prevented from using that information to discriminate."

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