Life Insurers Discriminating
posted: 07/12/2010
Many life insurers discriminate against people living with HIV by refusing to offer any life insurance, or by charging unaffordable premiums, it was claimed this week.
8 out of 12 won't insure
Compass, a firm of financial advisers that offers specialist advice to gay and HIV-positive communities, said that eight of the top 12 UK insurers say they do not accept applications from HIV-positive people.
The 4 that will insure
When Compass put forward a test application to the four insurers that say they will insure people with HIV, two – Scottish Provident and Fortis – refused to offer any life insurance, said Chris Morgan, marketing manager of the Devon-based firm.
The other two companies were little better. Zurich wanted to charge so much extra for HIV that the customer would have to pay around £220 per month, almost double the £116 that Prudential would charge, he added.
Testing Insurers
They wanted to find out what life insurance would cost for a 30-year-old non-smoker with HIV, who wanted £250,000 of life cover for 10 years. He was chosen because he has one of the best blood cell counts and "viral loads" – a measure of the severity of a viral infection – of any person with HIV that Compass has tried to insure.
Prudential leads, others left behind
Chris Morgan said Prudential had increased the premiums because of HIV like Zurich, but at least it was offering "useful cover at a realistic price". Early last year, Prudential became the first mainstream insurer to offer life cover to people with HIV. Since then, a few other companies have started to offer this too.
Stigma and in the dark ages
Morgan said: "Some of our findings and answers received from insurers are completely worrying. It is apparent the majority are still in the dark ages and attaching a stigma to HIV." In fact it is likely to be evidence of illegal discrimination.
He added that his firm recognised insurers had the right to decline applicants on medical grounds, but it felt they were not dedicating enough attention to this developing market, and taking the needs of HIV-positive people seriously enough.
"Either companies are avoiding the issue by not offering cover, or offering completely inadequate, overpriced products and services."
Paul Ward, deputy Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust told BBC Radio 4 this week: "If you are positive, you can start treatment and it's very effective. For someone in their 30s, diagnosed today, there is every likelihood they are going to live into their 70s."
Excuses
In a statement, Phil Brown, Zurich UK's life, underwriting and claims director, said that while it would be inappropriate to comment on individual cases, "of decisions made on HIV positives this year, approximately 85% have been offered terms". He added: "We assess each applicant on their own merits, considering the many aspects of risk involved including treatment, response to treatment and the applicant's compliance with treatment."
Scottish Provident said it was happy to assess applications from HIV-positive customers on an individual basis, and is most likely to offer terms where the customer has an "undetectably low" viral load, and a consistently high white cell count, has shown good compliance with anti-viral treatment, and needs cover for 10 years or less.
But Chris Morgan said: "We have submitted 10 pre-sales enquiries over the past three months and it eventually told us to stop sending any because it was not in the position to offer any terms."
Fortis commented: "We do not automatically exclude cover for customers with any pre-existing conditions. However, we assess every case on a wide range of factors in arriving at decisions on whether terms can be offered."
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