Science points towards more and better predictive genetics testing for health outcomes, and it is set to become more widely available publicly and privately. Research shows that people who undergo predictive genetic testing are often motivated by health concerns. But what does that mean for health and protection insurance? Is it to the benefit or detriment of the consumer? And what are the ramifications for the industry as a whole?
Predictive testing can save lives by giving people the chance to act in time to prevent serious illness. For example, discovery of BRCA genes indicates an increased risk of cancers such as breast, ovarian, and prostate. This knowledge gives people the ability to mitigate their risk by changing lifestyle, getting regular screenings, or undergoing preventative surgery.
This raises the question if there is a role for insurers to play in facilitating preventative healthcare to improve consumer health and what the barriers are to this? Access to patient genetic data could allow insurers to better understand individual- and population-level risks, which has the potential to improve affordability and access to insurance. However, if only consumers have access to this predictive data, it could result in an asymmetry of information between a consumer and an insurer, leading to unexpected claims volumes and threatening a situation where only those with high genomic risks seek out insurance in the first place, limiting affordability and access to insurance.
The issue of genetic testing and insurance is ripe with complex questions and ethical dilemmas. Who owns genetic data? Who can use it? And when is it ethical to start testing – should we start testing infants or wait until later? The difficulties of such questions are obvious. But difficulty only means that we as an industry have all the more reason to start thinking about them now. One thing seems certain, the frequency of genetic testing is only going to increase regardless of whether insurers engage or not.
Join us on Tuesday 21st February for our Annual Conference, when we will kick of this work by debating for and against the power of predictive genetic testing as having a positive impact on consumer health and the insurance market.