31–40 of 127 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In what way is any of that actionable? Are there specific recommendations besides "eat right, exercise, don't smoke"? Sounds like something that could just induce anxiety.
It's actionable by your insurance provider.
My primary concern with these are: what will it mean in a possible future to know your risk profile, and your ability to get/maintain health insurance, also without having to pay premiums. I live in the Netherlands, so probably not too much, but US could be different, and who knows what the future holds. Anyway, this makes me less/not want to take them...
It shouldn't be a problem in the US. The ACA requires insurers to insure people with pre-existing conditions. (And GINA is also relevant here, as sibling mentioned. I was struggling to remember its name.)
The ACA requires insurers to cover people under the age of 65 with pre-existing conditions and, more importantly, requires them to provide coverage at the same prices regardless of those conditions (they can only set price using a few pieces of information: age, zip code, smoking status, etc.). However, there are a lot of ways that insurers already skirt that second part, such as offering "discounts" to patients for certain elections which are strongly negatively correlated with various pre-existing conditions.
Furthermore, the ACA has seen a number of challenges over the last few years - most recently, the requirement to cover preventive care at no cost to the patient was struck down a few months ago. There's plenty of reason to suspect that this provision will be challenged in the future as well, and could easily be overturned.
This is great! I got the Invitae test (due to this: https://jakeseliger.com/2023/07/22/i-am-dying-of-squamous-ce... ), and, from what I understand, FDA approval means it'll be covered by insurance. I've been told by oncologists that blood testing is presently the wild west of cancer profiling. Getting blood testing like CARIS: https://www.carislifesciences.com/products-and-services/mole... or Guardant360: https://gua…
Insurance coverage is basically a waiting game between manufacturers and insurance companies. If you have enough capital to wait it out and schmooze executives, then you can get coverage. If not, good luck to you.
My primary concern with these are: what will it mean in a possible future to know your risk profile, and your ability to get/maintain health insurance, also without having to pay premiums. I live in the Netherlands, so probably not too much, but US could be different, and who knows what the future holds. Anyway, this makes me less/not want to take them...
https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/policy-issues/Genetic-...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if this could keep you from even being hired for a job. Given two otherwise equal candidates I can imagine some companies may wish to choose the one which doesn't have a risk for a major cancer.
It could be, though in the US this type of thing has been anticipated, hence the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008.
Which I think is more important given how leaky a sieve prohibiting the multitudinous hydra that collection is.
Although I wouldn't be sad to see strict laws around genetic info storage too. Toxic waste, etc.
For clarification, it tests for 47 genes which are associated with increased risk of cancer. It doesn’t help tell you whether or not you have cancer, in contrast to blood tests like Galleri, which can do that. 0: https://www.galleri.com/
There are plenty of blood tests out there that can potentially let you know whether you have cancer. Here's another one: https://www.personalgenome.com/products/elio-plasma-resolve The thing all of these have in common is that they aren't FDA-approved, they're just CLIA assays. Invitae's test in the original article is FDA-approved, which is no small feat. That's not easy to do and lends a lot of credence to their te…
I'll also point out that detecting germline variants (which is what Invitae is doing) is considerably easier than somatic variants, which is what tests ala Grail and PGDx do. Of course this doesn't discount the work of Invitae, absolutely sound tech behind it.
This is great! I got the Invitae test (due to this: https://jakeseliger.com/2023/07/22/i-am-dying-of-squamous-ce... ), and, from what I understand, FDA approval means it'll be covered by insurance. I've been told by oncologists that blood testing is presently the wild west of cancer profiling. Getting blood testing like CARIS: https://www.carislifesciences.com/products-and-services/mole... or Guardant360: https://gua…
FDA authorization has nothing to do with insurance coverage. I know of a small manufacturer that's had an authorized product on the market for over 3 years, not a single insurance company will cover it. Insurance coverage is basically a waiting game between manufacturers and insurance companies. If you have enough capital to wait it out and schmooze executives, then you can get coverage. If not, good luck to you.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
GINA should protect you against this (for health insurance) in the US but it does not necessarily extend to other forms of insurance.
GINA needs to be much, much stronger for me to feel safe. There's a lot of potential money to be made from genetic information.
Is there a lot of money to be made from one individual's genetic information?