Fear of insurance penalties keeps Huntington's sufferers in the shadows

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jun/30/huntingtons-disease-fear-insurance-penalties

The chairman of the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence, Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, stated that Huntington's disease needs far more attention. Current records indicate that approximately 7 in 100.000 Britons suffer from Huntington's disease which makes it a low-priority condition for research, but Rawlins believes this number is much lower than the real amount, because many Huntington's sufferers or carriers of the gene are afraid of saying this, because it makes their health insurance much more expensive. Only about 20% of the people at risk of carrying the Huntington's gene, actually take a test to establish whether or not they will be getting the neuro-degenerative disease, most of which are people wanting to have children. An all-parliamentary group is now being formed in order to draw more attention to Huntington's disease and to try and decrease the stigmas surrounding the disease.

My opinion:
I believe it to be unbelievable that people are afraid of having a genetic and serious disease diagnosed because the health insurance will punish them for carrying the gene! Especially considering the fact that this also negatively influences the prevalence numbers, in my opinion something needs to be done about this as soon as possible. People may never be punished for health issues, and making people pay more insurance because of their genetic make-up is just totally unethical and wrong. I am therefore happy with the formation of a group to draw more attention to the matter. I hope this will help killing the stigmas.