It’s worse than not good; if you read the news about this, it looks like the whole thing got kicked off by UnitedHealth complaining about 23andMe’s affordability to the FDA. Who, being the dutiful little stooges they are, immediately went and started making unreasonable demands to 23andMe leading up to today’s nonsense.
My guess on the reasoning; since insurers aren’t legally permitted to use DNA tests to determine rates or eligibility, letting consumers figure out their own disease risk cheaply would give us an advantage in selecting plans and thus drive down their bottom line. That’s just speculation, but it seems to fit pretty well.
it looks like the whole thing got kicked off by UnitedHealth complaining about 23andMe’s affordability to the FDA
Might be, but it also crossed my mind that under Obamacare the government has incentives to NOT let people make informed guesses about their future health.
“The government” isn’t an agent and doesn’t respond to incentives. It is a whole bunch of different people with different careers and roles. I wouldn’t expect an FDA researcher, a naval officer, a State Department staffer, and a senator to have the same incentives regarding policy, for instance.
Which people do you think have an incentive like that?
Not good.
It’s worse than not good; if you read the news about this, it looks like the whole thing got kicked off by UnitedHealth complaining about 23andMe’s affordability to the FDA. Who, being the dutiful little stooges they are, immediately went and started making unreasonable demands to 23andMe leading up to today’s nonsense.
My guess on the reasoning; since insurers aren’t legally permitted to use DNA tests to determine rates or eligibility, letting consumers figure out their own disease risk cheaply would give us an advantage in selecting plans and thus drive down their bottom line. That’s just speculation, but it seems to fit pretty well.
Might be, but it also crossed my mind that under Obamacare the government has incentives to NOT let people make informed guesses about their future health.
“The government” isn’t an agent and doesn’t respond to incentives. It is a whole bunch of different people with different careers and roles. I wouldn’t expect an FDA researcher, a naval officer, a State Department staffer, and a senator to have the same incentives regarding policy, for instance.
Which people do you think have an incentive like that?
The Administration, aka the White House.