Recently, a pharmaceutical company has received permission to begin offering kits to physicans that would allow testing for a certain form of the breast cancer gene.
Sarah, a mother of two daughters, decided to have the test conducted at the doctor's office. There has been a history of breast cancer in Sarah's family, and she was concerned that she might also carry the form of the gene associated with breast cancer. The test is called a marker, and it can tell whether a person has the defective gene. However, the test itself costs between $750-$1,000 to administer. Sarah decided to inform her health insurance provider and to ask them to pay the costs.
Sarah went ahead and had the test done, and the results came back positive. She was given a course of action by the doctor and decided to follow the doctor's instructions carefully, that is to continue having regularly scheduled visits.
A problem arises when the insurance company requests the results of the administered test. The insurance company has guaranteed that no one can be removed as a policy holder based on the results of a genetic test. Their reasoning for the inquiry is that knowing the results will help them better plan for the future of the policy holder. "Planning for the future" might mean increasing the policy holder's fee.
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