From: Patrick Wilken (patrickw@cs.monash.edu.au)
Date: Tue Nov 17 1998 - 23:32:43 MST
The basic assumption appears to be that insurance agencies will act
rationally to by using genetic testing to screen out those in the
population that are most likely to become ill to therefore increase profit
margins.
But a counterbalancing force might also prevail: those most likely to
remain well might make a rational course of action and drop out of
insurance schemes (or at least demand much lower policies) and therefore
reduce the profit of insurance companies.
I don't see anything wrong with companies trying to maximize profit. Why
would people expect anything else? If you believe that all people should be
entitled to equal medical coverage you should look to governments not
corporations. Then of course healthier people have to put up with
supporting the less healthy. This is particularly irritating when my tax
dollars support those who smoke, eat lots of fat, and take really stupid
risks (such as driving without a seat belt or consuming drugs while
driving).
ciao, patrick
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Patrick Wilken http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~patrickw/
Editor: PSYCHE: An International Journal of Research on Consciousness
Secretary: The Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/ http://www.phil.vt.edu/ASSC/
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