- Richard Ashcroft, professor of biomedical ethics
- Queen Mary, University of London, Institute of Health Sciences Education, London E1 2AT
- r.ashcroft{at}qmul.ac.uk
A strong case can be made for requiring people who have had genetic tests to disclose that fact to insurers when they purchase life, critical illness, or health insurance policies. There are essentially three arguments for this position: that genetic information is not essentially different from other kinds of health information, that non-compulsory insurance depends on full and truthful disclosure by the applicant to protect the integrity of insurance underwriting and risk pooling, and that because insurance is a private arrangement between freely contracting parties, each party is entitled to set the terms of the contract in negotiation.
I would accept all of this. Indeed, it is the consensus in both the academic and the policy …
Sign in
Personal subscribers, sign in here:
Article access
Article access for 1 day
Purchase this article for £20 $30 €32*
The PDF version can be downloaded as your personal record
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Reddit
Technorati
Twitter
Stumbleupon
Rapid responses
Latest Responses
The decline in the breast cancer incidence is 1.2% and it is not significant.
Published 10 February 2012
'twas ever thus
Published 10 February 2012
The value of historic human remains
Published 10 February 2012
In Praise of British Literature
Published 10 February 2012
Is real shared decision making possible?
Published 10 February 2012
Most responses
Does anyone understand the government’s plan for the NHS? (17 responses)
Published 17 Jan 2012
Bad medicine: medical nutrition (15 responses)
Published 18 Jan 2012
Shared decision making: really putting patients at the centre of healthcare (7 responses)
Published 27 Jan 2012
Why legislation is necessary for my health reforms (7 responses)
Published 1 Feb 2012
Search for evidence goes on (5 responses)
Published 17 Jan 2012