Brian Gongol
$20 personal genetic test coming to Walgreens
It's supposed to cover a range of subjects, like one's "carrier" status for certain inherited diseases. While this test is likely to be mostly superficial and a bit error-prone, it's a proof of concept that illustrates how quickly we're progressing towards having lots of useful information about ourselves available for doctors to use when personalizing our medical care. That could be very good for efficiency -- but if it's used to obstruct people's access to care, it's going to cause trouble. The law needs to take action post-haste to ensure that people will still be able to obtain services like insurance coverage once it's known that they are likely to suffer future genetic-related maladies.
