Could my life insurance get denied if I go for genetic testing?

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maiyen
maiyen Member Posts: 81
edited April 2016 in High Risk for Breast Cancer

My surgical oncologist highly suggested that I meet with a genetic counselor and possibly get tested because of a couple of different reasons (I do not have cancer myself, but some benign issues w/ family history has put me in the high risk category). There is quite a bit of cancer in my family and my mom was diagnosed with triple negative cancer before the age of 60, which my surgeon says is an increased risk for genetic mutations). He said that ideally, she would be tested, but since she has passed then I would be covered by insurance because I'm next in line.

Anyway, I've met with the genetic counselor over the phone and she feels that I'm a good candidate so I have a genetic testing appointment at the end of the month. However, I just recently applied for term life insurance and now I'm reading online how a life insurance policy can be denied if anything comes back positive from the genetic testing. Do I need to push back my genetic appointment to ensure that everything is finalized with my life insurance first? Thank you for reading.

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  • lekker
    lekker Member Posts: 594
    edited April 2016

    https://www.genome.gov/10002328/genetic-discrimination-fact-sheet/

    You're right. Life insurance, long term care insurance and disability insurance are not covered under the federal genetic non-discrimination (GINA) laws. The federal laws only protect employment and health insurance. Read more in the link I provided.

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  • readytorock
    readytorock Member Posts: 199
    edited April 2016

    I just applied for life insurance in December and don't remember that being a question (I think I would have remembered as I did have genetic testing and it came back with VUS - so that would have been a difficult question to answer.) I, of course, was denied due to having had cancer within the prior five-year period.


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  • maiyen
    maiyen Member Posts: 81
    edited April 2016

    Thanks for the link, lekker. Am I correct that the act of getting genetic testing is not the problem, but only if there are any positive results?

    Readytorock, I'm sorry about what happened to you because of your previous history. I just did my medical questionnaire/ policy signing yesterday and no, they only asked about cancer...nothing in regards to genetics.

    Thank you both for the info.

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