https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/06/mormon-genetic-testing/530781/

I don't know how to put in an active link but this was interesting. Mormon genealogy helped identify a gene for colon cancer.

That is very interesting, and promising research.

So if your insurance company knows you have the gene, they can raise your rates. I think I won't be sending any DNA to Ancestry dot com.

Is this the existing practice for insurance companies?

Also, wouldn't this information be kept confidential as to the identities of participants for research purposes? Seems like it would violate all sorts of HIPAA regulations were insurance companies to get access to these records.

I carry the genes for a kidney disease that sounds similar. By the time you learn that you have it, you have already passed it to your children. I will carry the guilt for that to my grave.

To be fair, I did ask my doctor if the disease could be passed on to future children. But at the time I asked, I didn't know the name of the specific disease, so the doctor had no way to access the information. At that time, I didn't even know what a nephrologist was - but that was the person I should have asked.