Policies failing tests of inequity
One in three Australians who undertake genetic tests are being denied life insurance, charged higher premiums or having conditions placed on their cover.
But if they lived in the UK, Canada or Europe, the penalties would not apply.
A new government-funded study, published in the journal Nature, found overt and widespread insurance discrimination was deterring people from seeking testing that could save their lives.
Research author Dr Jane Tiller, of Monash University, said while other countries banned insurers from accessing genetic test results, Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act had a specific exemption that allowed insurers to show prejudice.
“Of those who may have tried to apply for life insurance products, over a third reported difficulties, including insurers rejecting applications; financial advisers telling respondents that their applications would be rejected; and insurers placing conditions on insurance policies or charging higher premiums,” the study said.
As more medical advances depend on genetic testing, experts are calling on the federal government to amend the DDA to ban life insurers from being able to access genetic test results.
And to enforce the new ban, they want the government to install a Human Rights Commission appeal process.
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Professor Martin Delatycki said it was “unconscionable and unethical in a civilised society that we have the ability to help people and prevent illness and death, and people are not able to take advantage of it”.
“People might die because they’re avoiding intervention, and genetic testing for something that’s preventable,” he said.
The Human Genetics Society said insurers should not be able to require disclosure of genetic testing undertaken as part of a research project. And the chief executive of hereditary cancer charity Pink Hope, Sarah Powell, also wants the DDA amended “so people are not discouraged from genetic testing and can access the same levels of insurance as others in the general population”.
A parliamentary inquiry five years ago called for Australia’s Financial Services Council to prohibit life insurers from using the outcomes of predictive genetic tests, as is the case in the UK.
The insurance industry imposed a moratorium in 2019, stopping insurers from asking for or using genetic results.
However, instead of matching the UK with no cap, Australia’s insurers set a limit of $500,000 that an applicant can have before they are required to disclose previous genetic test results.
“It’s not good enough firstly because the limit is a relatively low one and so for many people is completely inadequate to meet their needs,” Professor Delatycki said. “But secondly, the insurers can stop the moratorium at any time.”