Feb 14, 2007

Genetic Discrimination and life insurance

From the WSJ$ "A bill barring discrimination by employers and insurers based on genetic information is moving swiftly through Congress."

Imagine this bill becomes law and I take a genetic test that tells me that I face a 50% of dying chance over the next two years. I would buy $10 million of life insurance for a relatively cheap rate because the life insurance company couldn't discriminate against me due to my genetic condition.

I would then sell the right to collect on my life insurance to another company that bought life insurance policies. This company would pay me a relatively high amount of money because I would share with them the results of my genetic test. Consequently, I would make a large riskless profit.