ABSTRACT
The nature of the insurance market within the European Union could be altered by the introduction of legislation which seeks by various means to alter the balance between social and private insurance. At the moment in many European countries there is a reasonably coherent social system of health insurance, although in some states, notably the UK this provision has been reduced for fiscal and ideological reasons. The prohibition of the use of genetic information could be introduced at a transnational level across an entity like the European Union. A full understanding of the need for regulation of the insurance market must begin with the highlighting of an important distinction. This is the difference between requests for the disclosure of existing genetic information and requests for a genetic test before signing an insurance contract. The adoption of voluntary moratoria on the use of genetic testing has been a widespread response of the insurance industry throughout Europe.
