Insurance Medicine

Some of the articles featured in the September 2019 edition of RGA's Global Medical Newsletter include:

• Part II: Proposed New Classification and Nomenclature for Chronic Pain
• The Changing Face of Alzheimer’s Disease
• Brief Report: The Elusive Influenza Vaccine – Are We Any Closer?

While it sounds like something Joe Friday of Dragnet or the FBI would do, medical surveillance involves the following of a condition before deciding whether or when to take a definitive action of treatment. The waiting period can precede a possible surgery, a medical intervention, or an institution of therapy that disrupts the status quo. That’s what surveillance truly is: Waiting and watching before deciding whether to take an action that will disrupt the status quo.
 

Earlier this year researchers at Heidelberg University Hospital announced the development of a blood test that can detect breast cancer cells in patients - with higher accuracy than mammography.

This article discusses what a genetic test can reveal about us, the variety of genetic tests available and some of the pitfalls we can experience as underwriters, or indeed consumers, of these genetic tests.

If the insurance industry is informed about medical advancements, a huge advantage arises for future underwriting with regards to calculating ratings for specific diseases and also creating digital application forms with simplified underwriting.

Thyroid cancer (TC) is the most prevalent endocrine cancer, accounting for about 95% of all such malignancies. The incidence of this cancer has increased dramatically in the last three decades.

Genetic testing is now available for many disorders. We have known for centuries that heredity is involved in many diseases. However, 15 years ago the Human Genome project was completed, and the sequence of human DNA is now known. This major accomplishment has caused an explosion of new information about genetic diseases, confirming previous suspicions in many diseases and identifying the genetic contribution in others.

Liver enzyme testing (LFTs) are part of virtually every blood profile obtained on a potential insured.  They are also one of the leading causes of a completely unexpected rating or decline on a case.  Most clients do not provide a specific history for an elevation, and no broker or agent expects such an outcome with what seemed to be a clean history.  Knowing how to approach this situation can be key to a favorable underwriting outcome.

Seasonal influenza is a unique public health conundrum: its epidemics are annual, yet even with the wealth of epidemiologic data now collected on it, predicting its activity and severity still remains a significant challenge. Recent modeling suggests that the global burden of influenza is worse than previously thought, accounting for up to 600,000 deaths annually.

Eat your vegetables. Stay active. Avoid smoking. Keep out of the sun. Patients have been hearing this good advice from their doctors for a long time. Now, researchers are uncovering new evidence that our lifestyle choices can measurably influence mortality risk at a genetic level. Learn more about the emerging science of epigenetics in a two-part interview and the webinar “Epigenetics and Liquid Biopsies: Fact, Fiction or Both.”