Insurance industry accused of genetic discrimination

TONY EASTLEY: You've heard of age discrimination or discrimination on the basis of gender, but what about people suffering discrimination because of what's in their genes? A new study has found that the insurance industry is using genetic information to decide who gets cover and how much they pay.

Simon Santow reports.

SIMON SANTOW: About a thousand people who'd undergone some form of genetic testing were asked about their experiences with insurance companies. Ten per cent of them had run into problems.

KRISTINE BARLOW-STEWART: Life insurance was the most common domain of concern cited by these respondents.

SIMON SANTOW: Each was in good health and unaffected by the area of family medical history for which they'd been tested.

According to associate professor Kristine Barlow-Stewart from the Centre for Genetics Information at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital, there was plenty of evidence of discrimination. KRISTINE BARLOW-STEWART: There was a range of concerns cited. In some cases people had been denied insurance outright either on the basis of their family history or because of a genetic test result.

In other cases their insurance premiums were loaded excessively or in other cases exclusion clauses were inserted into their policies for claims of cover at the onset of particular illnesses.

SIMON SANTOW: Simply because they had answered yes to a question 'have you ever had a genetic test for cancer' or that sort of thing?

KRISTINE BARLOW-STEWART: Some of the insurance applications would have asked that question directly but regardless of whether they'd been asked that question directly or not, it is part of the contract when applying for a life insurance that you must tell the insurer all information that is known to you that is relevant to your risk assessment. That would include, of course, your family history but also the result of genetic testing undertaken by you or your close relatives.

SIMON SANTOW: Isn't there a certain irony in all of this that genetic testing of course is completely voluntary and if you didn't find out, you couldn't be discriminated against? KRISTINE BARLOW-STEWART: Yes, and of course that's one of the concerns that we have. In two cases in this study we now have confirmed evidence that fear of discrimination by insurance companies and other perhaps employers are preventing people from accessing genetic testing and deriving the benefits that they may get from that and then this is a very concerning issue.

SIMON SANTOW: Experts expect the problem of genetic discrimination to grow with the popularity of genetic testing and screening at a time when medical science is evolving and becoming even more sophisticated.

news source : http://www.abc.net.au/

Claims rise drives up Aviva car premium

HIBERNIAN Aviva yesterday said it expected to increase car insurance premiums by at least 7.5pc this year despite the deepening recession. The insurance giant's chief executive Stuart Purdy made the comments as he revealed a 50pc collapse in the company's annual operating profits, to €181m (€203m).

The poorer result included a €40m hit for weather-related claims, a multi-million euro provision for redundancies and a "5pc to 7pc" fall in average premiums, Mr Purdy said. Figures from UK parent company Aviva also showed the Irish division made losses of £4m on its core general and health insurance underwriting business last year, against profits of £101m in 2007.

Describing the result as "solid", Mr Purdy said increases in general insurance premiums were "needed" to deal with a 30pc rise in claims over the past year and significant falls in premiums over the past five years. "We're seeing an increase in 'own damage' claims and we're seeing people claim for things they maybe wouldn't have claimed for before the downturn," said Mr Purdy.

news source : http://www.independent.ie/

Brits cutting travel and other insurance cover

Five million Britons will reduce spending this year by cutting back on their insurance cover, it was learned in a recent LV= survey. Of that number, 2.2 million, or nearly 45 per cent, said that they would be reducing or cancelling their home insurance cover, in order to reduce their overall spending. The next most likely to be cut is flood risk insurance, with 29 per cent of the respondents in the study indicating that it would be the first aspect of their policy to go. This result was somewhat surprising, given the significant increase in flood damage claims in the past few years, with amounts averaging £17,000 per claim.

John O’Roarke, who is the managing director of LV= general insurance, commented: “Home contents insurance is not legally required but anyone who has suffered a flood or break in will know how important it is to have cover in place.” Motorists who are feeling the impact of the credit crunch are saying that they plan to cancel their comprehensive cover to say on spending. Over the last year, there was a 10 per cent increase in motorists choosing third party fire and theft insurance as opposed to comprehensive cover when they renewed their policies.

According to the findings of the LV= study, this figure will likely increase, as 37 per cent of the respondents stated they planned to cut back on car insurance costs in 2009. Twenty-two per cent have indicated that they will reduce or eliminate travel insurance cover as well. Thanks to www.financemarkets.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

news source : http://news.carrentals.co.uk/