Chapitre 4. Genetic testing and insurance: an international comparison

Abstract

The article compares the legal situation of genetic testing before the conclusion of an insurance contract with an applicant and a private insurance company in Germany, other European countries and the USA. Regarding the world wide regulation there can be three models differentiated: In the case of unlimited permission of gene tests an insurance could require the execution of a gene test from the applicant before the conclusion of a treaty or executive gene tests themselves. Another type of regulation is the limited use of genetic information which can be otherwise freely attained. The third case is the general prohibition of gene tests before conclusion of a contract.
Since the resolution of the European Parliament in 1989 the decision that insurance companies should not have the right to demand genetic analysis before or after the conclusion of an insurance contract seems to be a red threat incorporated in all statements, resolutions or recommendations of international organizations and commissions.
One more common tendency for all national, international and supranational regulations and recommendations is that the necessity of protection for an insurance applicant is smaller in the case of life insurance instead in the case of health insurance. While contracting with health insurance the applicant should be globally protected against the use of genetic testing. The applicant himself should not suppress the results of previously done genetic tests.