Insurance Fears Lead Many to Shun DNA Tests

[BridgeTheGap]

Victoria Grove wanted to find out if she was destined to develop the form of emphysema that ran in her family, but she did not want to ask her doctor for the DNA test that would tell her.

She worried that she might not be able to get health insurance, or even a job, if a genetic predisposition showed up in her medical records, especially since treatment for the condition, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, could cost over $100,000 a year. Instead, Ms. Grove sought out a service that sent a test kit to her home and returned the results directly to her.

Nor did she tell her doctor when the test revealed that she was virtually certain to get it. Knowing that she could sustain permanent lung damage without immediate treatment for her bouts of pneumonia, she made sure to visit her clinic at the first sign of infection.

But then came the day when the nurse who listened to her lungs decided she just had a cold. Ms. Grove begged for a chest X-ray. The nurse did not think it was necessary.

“It was just an ongoing battle with myself,” recalled Ms. Grove, of Woodbury, Minn. “Should I tell them now or wait till I’m sicker?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/health/24dna.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1203948890-77HCl7scUDu4rVxnYFaOpQ

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Heartbreaking

If you get the immediate care you might need, you have to reveal information that could guarantee you will never get medical care ever again.

"Sad" doesn't even begin to come close.


Edited to clarify comment.

[Turbineguy]

2. Yes, insurance companies

are run by geniuses.

Some years ago there was a case where the insurance company would not pay for a $500 wheelchair ramp but they would pay for an $18,000 convalescent hospital bill because the patient needed the ramp in order to go home.

Since lifestyle is a major component in health, finding out if you are predisposed to something, while not helping in every case, in the aggregate, would lower costs. of course if you lowered costs on the front end you'd have to lower premiums. Lowering costs on the back end by denying benefits, increases profits. The more suffering, the greater the profits.

I don't get it. Why should people want to improve on a system like that? Oh wait, I know, we're all commies around here.

[CookCountyResident]

3. I agree with this woman.

The fact that our medical histories can be looked up via our SSN is enough to scare me from the "big brother" aspect of insurance companies and their willingness to deny coverage on the basis of "pre-existing" situations such as DNA, family history, etc.

[peacetalksforall]

4. and the rest are Mexicans and Moslems..We hate by the alphbet

Chinese Haitians Irish Japanese Mexicans (which includes Guatemalans Salvadorians etc because all Latinos are Mexicans - people don't know the difference)

And by religion: Jews Moslems

Yep, open arms. Wait, wait don't tell me - that was in another century.

[Warpy]

5. Yes, never get sick with anything that can be treated

but not cured. Once that happens, your insurance company will either dump you or make sure you are fought every step of the way for everything you need. In addition, they will bill you for everything that falls outside some arbitrary computer model (but not pay you if your treatment is cheaper).

If you're sick and lose insurance, you'll never get it again. I lost mine 20 years ago.

Health insurance exists to make money. It doesn't exist to make sure sick people get the care they need. Once you understand this simple fact, everything else becomes clear.

[BridgeTheGap]

6. Ain't it the truth! What used to be "practicing the art of medicine"

has been turned into a profit making machine. It's immoral.

[Summer93]

7. Dr.s have bought the insurance model.....

Agreed. First do no harm went away a while a ago.
Prejudice thrives in insurance.
Thinking of life insurance as death insurance what is health insurance?

[dropkickpa]

8. A good friends mom died of this disease

Horrible horrible, she was 44 years old and was told for 10 years that it was all in her head. By the time an accurate diagnosis was made, she only had 30% lung function. Luckily, neither of her children tested positive for it, they were terrified until they knew, having watched her slow death (they were 18 and 21 when she died).