Insurance companies evaluate risks and then offer pricing and coverage that are appropriate and profitable based on those risks.
Improvements in DNA testing have given insurance companies the means to evaluate health risks accurately. There’s a big difference between someone saying, ‘I have a strong family history,’ and saying, ‘I only have a 13 percent chance of not getting breast cancer during the time you’re insuring me.’
Now, if the insurers don't take information like this into account when offering pricing and coverage, they aren't being insurance companies.
The kind of behavior that most of us want — comparable coverage for everyone under nondiscriminatory pricing rules — is flatly not something an insurance company can offer.
Sources
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/healt … ei=5087%0A
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/ … 8627.shtml
Improvements in DNA testing have given insurance companies the means to evaluate health risks accurately. There’s a big difference between someone saying, ‘I have a strong family history,’ and saying, ‘I only have a 13 percent chance of not getting breast cancer during the time you’re insuring me.’
Now, if the insurers don't take information like this into account when offering pricing and coverage, they aren't being insurance companies.
The kind of behavior that most of us want — comparable coverage for everyone under nondiscriminatory pricing rules — is flatly not something an insurance company can offer.
Sources
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/healt … ei=5087%0A
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/ … 8627.shtml