The federal government plans to ban life insurance companies from using genetic testing to deny coverage or increase premiums. This move addresses concerns that some consumers have faced discrimination based on genetic testing results predicting inherited diseases. The ban will also extend to companies offering income protection and permanent disability coverage. National Health Reporter Elise Worthington has the details.
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00:00Well, there's been concerns for years that people are being put off getting potentially
00:05life-saving genetic tests because they could be denied insurance coverage or see much higher
00:12premiums.
00:13So, there has been a moratorium preventing insurers from using genetic testing information
00:18for policies up to a certain limit for some years, but researchers like Dr Jane Tiller,
00:23who looks at public health, says that this hasn't been enough to protect consumers.
00:29So, there are genetic tests that can show people are at risk of diseases that are medically
00:33actionable, meaning that you can take steps to prevent disease or catch it and treat it
00:37early.
00:38We've done research where we've been offering that kind of testing to people and the biggest
00:42reason that people decline the testing is because they're worried about the life insurance
00:46implications and it's just a tragedy that people make decisions not to have this kind
00:50of testing if they otherwise want it because they're worried about insurance.
00:54And you have personal experience of this issue, Elise, are you able to tell us about
00:58that?
00:59Yeah, so I was diagnosed with a BRCA1 genetic mutation almost a decade ago, but I specifically
01:03remember going in for that test and being warned that if I did this it could have implications
01:09for me for life insurance.
01:11So, in the case of BRCA1, it increases your risk of breast or ovarian cancer, but there's
01:16lots of preventative measures like mastectomies that you can take that can reduce that risk.
01:21So in my case, I was young and I wasn't really thinking about life insurance, so it didn't
01:24put me off.
01:25But you can understand for someone who's a bit older and might have kids that they really
01:29might be weighing up these really tough decisions and researchers say that they have seen people
01:34who are put off genetic testing for exactly these reasons.