Legal Regulation On Genetic Discrimination In Underwriting Of Personal Insurance

Since the 1990s, Genentech that marked by the Human Genome Project has exerted a deep impact on our human society. Genetic testing brings much benefit to us in medical science. However, it also brings the controversies in ethics and laws. How to standardize individual genetic information is a pressing problem in clinical practice of genetic testing. In underwriting of personal insurance, the insurance company ask applicant to provide his genetic information in order to evaluate his future risks, and charge different sum of premium accordingly. But the applicant opposes this"genetic discrimination", or even objects to providing genetic information in name of genetic privacy. Faced with the dispute, generally the ethicists and legists appeal to forbid genetic discrimination. In western countries, most laws ban the use of genetic information by insurance company in underwriting. However, I know the insurance has its own rules for living. Insurance company pursues profits. Only from the applicant's point of view, he can have genetic privacy, but commerial insurance cannot exist in the market. Thus insurance company will retreat from the market due to its failure to gain profits. Therefore, it is the duty of laws to find a standard to evaluate the use the genetic information in underwriting of personal insurance, and to regulate the use the genetic information by insurance company. This may help balance the benefits and costs of insurance company and applicants. This thesis can be divided into three chapters:Chapter one is about the analysis of current genetic discrimination in underwriting of personal insurance.This chapter starts with the definition of genetic discrimination and restricts it to a certain extent. It summarizes the genetic discrimination both home and abroad in personal insurance, and analyzes its reasons briefly. Finally, it gives a brief evaluation and explanation on the laws about genetic discrimination in insurance, and concludes that it is unreasonable to make laws that forbid insurance company to use genetic information. It is also unjust. We should analyze this problem under the framework of commercial insurance system, and seek for a more reasonable legal solution.Chapter two is about analysis of genetic discrimination in commerial insurance system.This chapter analyzes the rationality of genetic discrimination in commerial insurance system. The basic rule of insurance is"All for one and one for all", which reveals the spirit of mutual help and fairness. Fairness is between the insurance company and applicants, also between different applicants. In order to keep fairness, we must maintain an adaption between risks and premium. In this part, I firstly analyze the rentability of commerial insurance company, as well as the distinction between commercial insurance and social insurance. Secondly, I come to the importance of risk assessment in insurance. I also come to the vital function of genetic information have on applicant's future risks. If insurance company is banned to use genetic information, it is impossible to evaluate applicant's future health risks, which may result in unbalance between risks and premium. A potential much severer consequence is anti-selection. Only permit the use of it may lead to infringe upon applicant's gene privacy. Therefore, this thesis carries an analysis on each other's benefits and costs in the use of genetic information in underwriting of personal insurance. Chapter three is about requirements and regulations of the reasonable use of genetic information in personal insurance.Based on foregoing study, this chapter analyzes the requirements of the reasonable use of genetic information in personal insurance. That is:(1)The genetic information is true and exact.(2)There is some kind of certain relationship between genes and diseases.And a discussion on different types of certainty should be carried out. Meanwhile, I give some suggestions to insurance companies when they use genetic information in personal insurance underwriting:(1) Allow insurance company use some genetic information in a reasonable way.(2) Protect applicant's relative rights on his own genetic information. (3) A special agency should be responsible for making rules to regulate the use of genetic information.