Genetics and Insurance

[Indy Coug]

NEW seminar following the SOA Annual Meeting & Exhibit:

Join world class geneticists, scientists and biostatisticians at the Genetically Informed Risk Assessment Seminar to learn how genetic information and the coming revolution in personalized medicine can be applied to risk assessment and life underwriting. Genetically informed decision making, like it or not, is imposing itself on and becoming a valuable resource in medical care and risk assessment. This seminar will reveal how inexpensive, readily available genetic information can be used, and how it will impact medical care, the life and health insurance industry, and the actuarial profession. Presenters will offer insight into some of the latest advancements.


Target Audience

• Actuaries active in product development, assumption setting for risk selection and valuation of financial risk related to human life, health or behavior, experience studies or analysis, the value of insurance after issue, lifetime payout benefits or longevity research
• individuals involved in the life settlement market
• Underwriters including medical directors
• Insurance company management
• Regulators

[pellegrino]

we all knew it was only a matter of time before a Gattica-like world was foisted upon us.

[Paperback Writer]

we all knew it was only a matter of time before a Gattica-like world was foisted upon us.

I was about to reference Gattaca as well. In addition to the concern about sharing of genetic information, I worry about the sharing of behavioral information (who is buying and consuming what). In other words, if the insurance industry knows what prescription medicines someone is on and what he or she eats and consumes on a regular basis; then that could be more significant than genetic information.

[Indy Coug]

I was about to reference Gattaca as well. In addition to the concern about sharing of genetic information, I worry about the sharing of behavioral information (who is buying and consuming what). In other words, if the insurance industry knows what prescription medicines someone is on and what he or she eats and consumes on a regular basis; then that could be more significant than genetic information.

Some life insurance companies are already using publicly available information such as magazine subscriptions, purchasing habits, prescription medication purchases, etc. to build predictive analytic models for the underwriting process. It has been shown that predictive models can be built from public data that will yield very similar results to what you would get from normal medical underwriting, but at a fraction of the cost.