Academics Urge Government to Ban Genetic Discrimination by Life Insurers

Two Australian academics have called on the government to bar life insurers from discriminating people based on genetic tests results. Under the current law, firms providing insurance for death, income protection, and disability can use genetic tests to provide life insurance coverage, raise the cost of premiums or place exclusions on a customer’s coverage based on risk factors. This includes travel insurance but not health insurance as it is not risk-related. Genetic tests aim to diagnose disease, prompt early screening, as well as monitor, treat, and prevent disease. However, genetic discrimination can discourage people from undertaking genetic testing due to concerns that the result would be used by insurance company, according to Jane Tiller, adviser at Public Health Genomic, and Paul Lacaze, associate professor at Chronic Disease and Ageing at Monash University in Melbourne....