Australians Fearing 'Genetic Discrimination' in Life Insurance
By Peter Vickers Insurance Brokers | insurance broker, life insurance services, comprehensive life insurance services, Blog, life insurance |
A Closer Look at Life Insurance.
Life insurance has always been a touchy subject for many Australians, let’s take a closer look.
Insurance is fairly straightforward. The higher the probability of a claim, the higher the cost of insurance cover. For life insurance, the asset being protected is yourself! So what happens when there are people with a higher likelihood of illness and disease? Life insurance is unique in that under section 46 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, an insurer can legally discriminate based on actuarially proven risk factors. Common premium differentiators are gender, occupation, smoker status and age. Further, an insurer assesses your health in a detailed underwriting screening process that captures a record of personal health circumstances at time of application. This underwriting process may also incorporate more thorough medical examinations and reporting from doctors. A blood test and medical exam with a nurse are common for higher sums insured and/or older applicants.
There have been reports of Australians having ‘Insurance discrimination fears’ and foregoing medical checks as a result.
To avoid this issue from developing further, there are suggestions that the Government introduce legislation addressing genetic testing and the availability of this data to life insurers. Presently, private health insurers are unable to use genetic test results to discriminate against applicants, but the exception for life insurance remains under section 46 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
Many other countries have taken steps to prevent rapid developments in genetic testing availability and efficacy being used by an insurer to more prohibitively underwrite policies. Is it time Australia follows in their footsteps?
Get the right cover for you! Talk to the team at Peter Vickers Insurance Brokers on 1300 784 011
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