Genetic testing is good for health. But what about insurance?
To encourage people to undergo testing, there must first be trust.
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A research officer at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital processing patients’ blood samples for genetic sequencing.
PHOTO: KHOO TECK PUAT HOSPITAL
Sumytra Menon, Julian Savulescu and Saumya Jamuar
Lina is a 30-year-old teacher whose mother developed breast cancer in her 40s. When her doctor recommends a genetic test to check whether she has a higher predisposition to breast cancer related to having the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, Lina is left with multiple questions about whether to proceed. A key one concerns insurance.
Although her basic MediShield Life coverage won’t be affected by the test results, she is unsure if any inherited risk shown in the results could affect her future applications for private health, life or critical illness insurance. What if she declines the test? Could the insurer still infer any inherited risk from her family history or a subsequent diagnosis of breast cancer?