Slashdot Mirror
My Genome, My Self?
theodp writes "After baring his DNA for the world to see, Steven Pinker follows up in the NYT Magazine with his take on the coming era of consumer genetics. Pinker comes away less wide-eyed than Time Magazine about the current predictive ability of $399 genetic tests, but is convinced enough to opt out of learning whether he has a gene that increases the risk of Alzheimer's and believes that genetic-testing-for-the-masses may hasten the arrival of national health insurance ('piecemeal insurance is not viable in a world in which insurers can cherry-pick the most risk-free customers'). Pinker believes that personal genomics is just too much fun to ban, but for now suggests: 'if you want to know whether you are at risk for high cholesterol, have your cholesterol measured; if you want to know whether you are good at math, take a math test.'"
Health insurance is a way of sharing risk, a form of solidarity. It is based on the insight that nobody is at fault for certain ailments, so in a society which wants to give the same basic opportunities to everybody, it is our duty to help those who, through no fault of their own, are burdened with sickness or injury. Making people with unfavorable genetic dispositions pay a higher price for health insurance is the opposite of the purpose of health insurance.