CDR: Re: why should it be trusted?

[petro]

>Tim May wrote:
>>
>>  At 11:38 PM -0400 10/18/00, Steve Furlong wrote:
>>  >At most, an insurance company would have some information Bob didn't
>>  >have. Bob could reasonably demand a copy of the results of his DNA test.
>...
>>  >If the insurance company refused, he could shop elsewhere. Or
>>  >self-insure, as many of us choose to do.
>>
>>  Indeed. But let's drop the use of the word "demand." I was taught
>>  that a "demand" is a "demand," not a request.
>
>Yep, I wrote carelessly. I _said_ "demand" but I _meant_ that Bob would
>refuse to deal with the insurance company unless they share what they

	Anybody who would take such a test (assuming that it wasn't 
from "skin flakes left behind on the couch") without being able to 
see the results as a pre-condition would be lucky not to get what 
they disserved.

>find. And I'm not so confident that the insurance company would be
>paying for the test, as you suggested in your (snipped) scenario. I have
>no experience with insurance plans which required you to get a physical
>before they take you on; I've always had HMOs (or self insurance) since
>I left the military. Who normally paid for the exams?

	For at least some plans, they send a nurse-like person around 
with a stethoscope and a sphygmomanometer to give you a health 
questionnaire and take certain vitals. It's amazing what can be 
inferred from some very basic measurements. i.e. you're 27, have high 
blood pressure, a high pulse rate, high respiration rate, are 5'9 and 
weigh over 200 pounds. I don't need to know all that much about your 
family medical history, or your individual one. You are a big risk 
for some *very* expensive treatments over the next 20 years, but will 
probably be fine for the next 5.

	I really think that DNA testing for insurance is being 
overblown--I don't believe that it's going to catch all that much 
that family history, and there are a *LOT* more environmental factors 
that lead to health problems.

-- 
A quote from Petro's Archives:   **********************************************
Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government 
of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? 
Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let 
history answer this question. -- Thomas Jefferson, 1st Inaugural