Health insurance industry called on to reconsider Huntingtons

Tue, 13 Jul 2010

Health insurance companies are being urged to reconsider the way they handle Huntingtons disease, after new research indicates there may be twice as many sufferers in the UK as previously believed.

Huntington's disease is so genetically predictable that health insurance companies make an exception to the general principle of not penalising people on the basis of their genetic make-up. The children of sufferers have a 50 per cent chance of developing it themselves, which usually shows itself when the person reaches their late 30s or 40s. The incurable condition affects muscle co-ordination and leads to cognitive decline as well as dementia .

Writing in the Lancet journal, Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, called for an end to the practice of penalising those with a family history of the neurodegenerative disease . He said: "Huntington's disease is the only genetic condition for which the insurance industry loads those at risk. The stigma, to the insurance industry's eternal shame, is not only societal but also actuarial."
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