Health insurance: legal basis
Precision medicine without genetic risk
Roughly 50% of genetic diseases are clinically actionable today.
With secure genomic storage, patients can access faster diagnoses and targeted treatments, which lowers hospitalisations, avoids unnecessary interventions, and reduces long-term costs for insurers.
Insurers subsidise access to the platform but never see genetic profiles. This firewall ensures compliance with Swiss law, eliminates reputational risk, and positions insurers as leaders in precision medicine.
Actionable medicine
50% of Mendelian diseases have targeted therapies or prevention strategies. Early detection through Genomic Vault translates into faster, cheaper care.
Cost reduction
Precision diagnosis prevents lengthy diagnostic odysseys, reduces hospital stays, and avoids ineffective treatments — a measurable saving for LAMal.
Privacy by design
Patients control their genomes. Insurers never access raw profiles, ensuring trust and compliance with Swiss protections on informational self-determination.
The proposal
We propose that insurers subsidise Genomic Vault as a preventive service. Patients gain rapid access to actionable precision medicine; insurers benefit from reduced costs; and a strict privacy firewall prevents any access to raw genomic profiles by insurers.
Legal & Regulatory (Switzerland)
Federal Act on Human Genetic Testing (GUMG/LAGH, SR 810.12)
- Consent & Purpose — Genetic tests require explicit, informed consent and must have a defined medical purpose (GUMG).
- Confidentiality — Genetic results are protected by medical secrecy; disclosure to insurers requires explicit, revocable consent (GUMG).
- Mandatory Health Insurance (LAMal) — Genetic data may not be demanded or used to set premiums; basic insurance is community-rated (GUMG).
- Supplementary Insurance Thresholds — Disclosure of genetic results is prohibited below specific thresholds (≤ CHF 400,000 for life cover; ≤ CHF 40,000 annual disability benefit). Above these levels, use remains narrowly regulated (GUMG).
- Voluntary Disclosure — Incentivising disclosure is restricted to avoid indirect coercion. Insurers must not reward sharing genetic profiles outside legal allowances (GUMG).
Implication
Subsidising Genomic Vault is compliant, cost-saving, and reputation-enhancing. Insurers fund access to precision medicine while never accessing raw genomic data.
Note: Legal summaries provided for product positioning. Exact article numbers and thresholds should be varified with counsel for policy documentation and contracts.
Federal legal framework
Swiss law strictly regulates how genetic testing can be used in medicine, insurance, and employment. We’ve prepared a clear, accessible summary of the Federal Act on Human Genetic Testing so that insurers, clinicians, and patients can understand the rules in practice.
Based on evidence from ACMG and ClinGen’s actionability frameworks, Genomics England initiatives (including the 100,000 Genomes Project and the newborn Generation Study), and population-scale resources such as UK Biobank. Together these programmes show a consistent reality – when a genetic diagnosis is confirmed, about half of cases are clinically actionable. In practice, follow-up and adoption are uneven today. The potential is clear, and our goal is to help maximise it.