Problems with Genetic Testing For Intestinal Cancer Due to Insurance Implications
Australian researchers discovered that more than half of the persons with the genetic threat of developing bowel cancer refused to take part in scientific tests due to the belief that their insurance will be later rejected. As Dr. Louise Keogh, from the University of Melbourne’s Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society, states: “This indicates that people have a significant fear of insurance discrimination which impacts their decision to have potentially life-saving genetic testing”.
The research regarding bowel cancer was conducted by scientists from the University of Melbourne in partnership with Cancer Council Victoria and appeared in the Medical Journal of Australia. 106 persons from 25 Australian families were given the opportunity to take part in this study. The thing they all had in common was the fact that in their families there were bowel cancer cases and thus, they were likely to develop intestinal cancer. Thus, they would be able to find out their genetic heritage at a Familial Cancer Clinic.
However, when researchers informed the Australians that there would be some insurance problems if they accepted to take some genetic tests, refusals increased from 20% to 50%. Christine van Vliet, co-lead author of Dr. Keogh, stated that these rejections were the result of insurance implications. Even though health insurance was not affected in any way by this type of testing, getting the other forms of insurance remained questionable. Moreover, the author from School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales states: “However this is not the case in all countries. Since we know all people have some genes which predispose to disease, it is important that the Australian life insurance industry does not deter people from learning about their genetic risks”.
As studies have shown, intestinal cancer represents the second most common malign form that affects both men and women. Statistics proved that one in 3,000 Australians bear the genetic burden that could make them develop bowel cancer. These figures can be improved if those who suffer from high genetic risk of developing cancer would remove their polyps. This procedure could prove to drop by more than 50 percent the number of people suffering from intestinal cancer. This is why it is so important to screen and test people bearing high genetic risk of bowel cancer. However, due to insurance related problems which in the future may prove to have great health consequences for the population, genetically testing people is very hard to be undertaken.
The researchers warn the Federal Government and the Australian insurance industry to study in a deeper sense the issue of genetic testing since this procedure may prove to be one of the best weapons against the mortality caused by bowel cancer. Moreover, the scientists who took part in this study state that persons that have a high genetic risk of developing intestinal cancer can go to a Family Cancer Clinic based on a referral from a general practitioner and find out more about this illness and its genetic mechanisms.
