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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>>>… 23andMe empowers people and governments. This can be either a good <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> thing or a bad thing, or both. I am fascinated and appalled at the <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> same time, which is an odd emotion indeed... spike<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>>...Thank you for sharing your buyer's remorse… Mike _______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>Please, a little humor from a headline typo:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f">
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</v:shape><![endif]--><![if !vml]><span style='mso-ignore:vglayout'><table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 align=left><tr><td width=25 height=8></td></tr><tr><td></td><td><img width=368 height=127 src="cid:image004.png@01CE73EF.110A9FD0" v:shapes="_x0000_s1026"></td></tr></table></span><![endif]><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br style='mso-ignore:vglayout' clear=ALL><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>OK so even the news majors are talking about found fathers frowning next week. {8^D Apologies, I just *<b>found</b>* it humorous considering the timing and context. {8-] <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>23andMe empowers anyone with a hundred bucks to determine patrimony, so now we have a number of fathers found by long-forgotten offspring. Many of these found fathers may be frowning. But it also empowers a number of fathers who may be paying child support and who likely get occasional custody to collect a DNA sample to verify if his was indeed the lucky sperm at the frat party. Perhaps he was identified by the young mother, only because a quick Spokeo search showed he was the frat brother from the most wealthy family, or identified as the one most likely to keep up the payments on the offspring. The rich guy can collect some baby drool, look around for his frat brothers’ cousins on 23andMe, figure out who is the real father. This is new: the number of participants on 23andMe has reached critical mass just in the past couple years to enable this kind of thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>We have empowered insurance companies to watch those who have made their DNA profiles public, along with their identity. A surprising number of 23ers have opted to do that. Insurance companies, or anyone for that matter, can watch the obits, correlate back and determine which genetic profiles are associated with which diseases and how much they cost to treat, which genetic profiles are associated with long or short life, etc. So we have suddenly enabled DNA-based health insurance. If the government moves to make DNA-based insurance illegal, the profit for doing stealth DNA-based insurance goes stratospheric.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>There is on 23andMe a forum dedicated to longevity. I have not hung out there, but it sounds interesting. I don’t know if one must be a 23 participant to get in there; I think you do. You can bet the life insurance companies are watching that carefully, for there is a bunch of info which isn’t available by other means. For instance, a 23er could post something like: “I am 78, my father lived to by 92, my mother is still alive and relatively well at 96.” Life insurance companies would then stealthily offer her insurance cheaper than anyone anywhere after they verified what she posted. Those same insurance companies could offer long-lived people discount insurance in exchange for the keys to the DNA markers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>My point: we are entering a new era, when health and life insurance prices will be determined by your DNA and two lifestyle indicators: smoking and BMI. There is no way to stop that by legal means, for any attempt to do so creates an industry: end runs around any law forbidding DNA-based insurance pricing. There is no way to stop insurance companies from offering discounts based on DNA but identified as something else, such as special discounts for those who drive a Prius, were born on a full moon in September (good luck is known to come to those people) and who studied at Fremont high school. The discounts could be tailored to fit exactly one person or family, as needed, and never mention DNA as a criterion. Laws can be made to stop insurance companies from *<b>requiring</b>* DNA samples, but no conceivable law could prevent the companies from offering stealth discounts to those who do supply DNA. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>23andMe empowers insurance companies to find the cherry trees and start picking. Just as in 1970, once the risk-cherries are picked, the remaining risk pool gets riskier and more expensive to insure.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>