关于保险的英语报纸解读带翻译：保险公司的担忧

IF A genetic test could tell whether you are at increased risk of getting cancer or Alzheimer’s, would you take it? As such tests become more accessible, more and more people are saying “yes”. The insurance industry faces a few headaches as a result.

如果有一项基因测试可以告诉你是否身患癌症或阿尔茨海默氏病的风险在增大，你会做这样的测试吗?当这种检测技术离我们越来越近的时候，更多的人会说“会”。随之而来的是保险业对此感到头疼。

Once used only for medical reasons, basic predictive genetic tests can now be ordered online for a few hundred dollars. One company, 23andMe, in California, has collected some 4,000 litres of sputum since 2007, enlightening 2m people on their ancestry, health risks and what they may pass on to offspring. In April it received regulatory approval to screen for risk factors connected to ten diseases and genetic conditions, including late-onset Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The ruling could open the flood gates for others to sell direct to consumers.

基础预测性基因检测曾几何时只用于医疗，但人们现在可以花几百美元在网上购买。位于加利福尼亚的一家叫23andMe的公司，从2007年开始收集了4000多升的痰，200多万人因此在祖先、健康风险及后代遗传上深受启发。该公司在四月得到了监管部门的批准，可以筛查十种疾病和与基因有关的风险因素，其中包括晚发性阿尔茨海默氏病和帕金森病。这项批准使得直接向顾客出售预测性基因检测成为可能，从此便一发不可收拾。

“Information is power”, argue many who take such tests. But insurers fear that without equal access to such information, they will lose out to savvy customers. Consumer groups, on the other hand, fear that if underwriters did have access to such information, people with “bad” genes might find themselves unfairly excluded from cover. Either way, the scientific advances could well disrupt insurance significantly.

“信息就是力量”，许多进行基因检测的人们这样说道。但是保险公司担心如果获取信息的机会不 均衡，他们就会因为精明的客户而吃大亏。另一方面，消费者担心如果保险商获得了信息，那些有“坏”基因的人就会被不公平地排除在保险外。无论怎样，科技的进步都明显会给保险业带来混乱。

Unlike diagnostic genetic tests, predictive ones are conducted on people without symptoms. The best-known example was provided by Angelina Jolie, an actress who discovered she had a gene mutation that markedly raised her risk of breast cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy.

与诊断性基因检测不同，预测性基因检测用于没有病症的'人们身上。最著名的例子便是安吉丽娜•朱莉了，通过检测，她发现自己患乳腺癌的风险因一个突变基因而显著增加，于是她将两个乳房切除。

Tests might influence financial as well as medical decisions. A person at increased risk of dying young may want to buy life insurance. Someone likely to contract cancer may buy cancer or critical-illness cover, which pays a lump sum upon diagnosis. Because predictive tests—unlike diagnostic ones—often need not be disclosed, the customer can secure an advantage over a future insurer.

基因检测也会影响财政和医疗决策。一个人若得知自己英年早逝的风险增加的话，他或许会购买人寿保险。可能得癌症的人也许会购买癌症保险或重大疾病保险，这些保险会涵盖诊断费用的大头。因为预测性检测不像诊断性检测需要经常公开信息，所以顾客相较于未来承保人会更有优势。

So underwriters warn that predictive genetic testing could well lead to adverse selection. The New York Times recently reported on a woman who bought long-term care insurance after testing positive for ApoE4, a mutation of a gene related to increased risk of Alzheimer’s. The insurer had tested her memory three times before issuing the policy, but could not know about the genetic result. Robert Green, at Harvard University, found that people told they have the mutation were five times more likely to buy long-term care insurance than those without such information.

所以保险商警告称预测性基因检测可能产生不利的选择。最新一期《纽约时报》报道了一位购买长期护理保险的女性，她是在检测出ApoE4阳性后购买的。ApoE4是一种增大阿尔茨海默氏病风险的突变基因。保险公司在给她投保前对她做了三次记忆测试，但结果未知。来自哈佛大学的罗伯特•格林发现，被告知有突变基因的人购买长期护理保险的可能性是那些未知情况人的五倍。

Asymmetry of information—when the customer knows more than the insurer—is the industry’s nightmare. If predictive tests further improve and become more common while non-disclosure rules stay in place, some insurance products might eventually die out. Either insurers would go belly-up, or premiums would become prohibitively expensive. Hence, argue some insurers, if the customer knows something relevant about their health, so should the insurer.

当顾客比保险商知道更多的时候，信息的不对称性就成为了保险业的梦魇。当不曝光的规则仍占主流时，如果预测性测试发展得更远，变得更加普遍，那么一些保险产品最后会消失。要么是保险公司破产，要么是保险费高得离谱。因此一些保险商认为如果顾客知道与他们健康有关的信息，保险商也应知道这些信息。

But tests might also help insurers. Christoph Nabholz, from Swiss Re, a reinsurance giant, is most excited about tests that spot early signs of cancer or cardiovascular disease. For life and health insurers, who want to keep people alive and well, such information could be invaluable. Discovery, a South African health insurer, plans to offer customers a test that maps part of their genome. The focus is on “actionable data”, where medical intervention or lifestyle change could mitigate risk, explains Jonathan Broomberg from Discovery.

但是基因检测也有益于保险商。克里斯托夫·那不霍尔茨来自一家巨头再保险公司——瑞士再保险。他对能够发现癌症或者心血管疾病信号的检测技术颇感兴奋。对想保持人身体健康的生命健康保险公司来说，这些信息是极为宝贵的。Discovery是南非的一家健康保险公司，计划给顾客们提供检测，从而了解他们的部分基因组。该公司的乔纳森·布鲁姆博格说道，他们关注的焦点是“可操作数据”，缓和因医疗干预或生活方式改变引起的患病风险。

This might help people who are already insured. But it worries those seeking new policies, who fear that underwriters may use predictive information to discriminate. Some might lose access to insurance. This raises ethical questions about when, if ever, genetic discrimination is acceptable. Moreover, since the relative role that genes play in the development of diseases is still being studied, some people might be unfairly and wrongly penalised.

这可能会帮助到已参保人员。但那些寻求新保险的人却有所顾虑了，他们担心保险公司会因得到前瞻性信息而区别对待投保人，一些人可能会失去保险。这产生了伦理问题——基因歧视能否接受?此外，因为基因在疾病中扮演的相关角色仍在研究中，一些人可能受到不公正，甚至是错误的判罚。

【本文作者：徐州七中彭向梅。(公众号：草根英语行思教)】

本文为原创文章，版权归作者所有，未经授权不得转载!