Case Study: The Merchant Marines

Results and Benefits

IIM’s pilot program with the Merchant Marines (also called American Maritime Officers or AMO) delivered important results and significant benefits to the union and its members. First, the historically consistent increases in AMO’s healthcare costs were nearly stopped. Before the start of IIM’s pilot program, AMO’s healthcare costs steadily increased at 3 to 5% per year. In 2008, the third year of the functional genomics program, AMO’s healthcare costs increased less than 1% with no change in the degree of coverage.

Secondly, participants with severe chronic disease reported positive feelings about the program because it empowered them to take more control and personal responsibility for their health. They described how specific information about their genome gave them motivation to take action in preventing or treating a chronic disease. With more personal knowledge and understanding came more personal action.

Third, from the healthcare practitioner’s perspective, functional genomic testing provided information unique to the individual and with more data a better outcome was possible.