Further consumer protections will be included in the new Life Insurance Code of Practice with the first life insurance industry-wide guidelines on family and domestic violence along with new protections in the genetics moratorium, says the Financial Services Council.
The FSC says the new Life Code requires life insurers from July 2023 to develop and publish their policy on supporting people experiencing family and domestic violence.
The new guidelines set out 11 areas that each life insurer’s policy might cover and were developed with consumer advocates.
The FSC’s CEO Blake Briggs says the council is committed to improving consumer outcomes across the life insurance industry, especially for vulnerable people.
“These guidelines will help industry navigate this difficult and sensitive area and bring a degree of consistency in how industry supports people experiencing family and domestic violence.”
Moratorium on Genetic Tests Extended Indefinitely
The FSC also announced the Moratorium on Genetic Tests will be extended indefinitely and is included in the new Life Code, taking effect from 1 July 2023.
It says the FSC and the life insurance industry will also give ‘immunity’ to any genetic test taken while the moratorium is in place, by maintaining the moratorium indefinitely for those consumers, even if it ends for subsequently taken tests.
Consumers will now be able to undergo a genetic test “…without fear that the result could stop them from taking out life insurance.”
Briggs says that extending the moratorium with immunity “…means consumers who are tested now will never need to share their genetic test results with their life insurer and so won’t be declined for life insurance later.”
He says it is safeguarding consumers by including the moratorium in the new Life Code, “…meaning there will be independent oversight by the Life Code Compliance Committee and the power to sanction Code subscribers who do not comply.”
The moratorium has been in place since July 2019, allowing Australians to take out life insurance benefits up to prescribed limits without having to disclose an adverse genetic test result.
The FSC received submissions from the genetics community, consumer advocates, and the life insurance industry to inform its review.
Click here to view the new guidelines and here for the new life code.
I really don’t see why they persist with the moratorium on genetic testing. If anyone can afford to seek underwritten/advised cover they are going to go over the 500k /4kpm limit in most cases. Plus nobody gets a genetic test on a whim. It’s only ever conducted when there is a significant family history in place that would be considered regardless.
If anything, having this in place suggests to clients that they should think twice about getting a genetic test when the reality is that a genetic test can only absolve them.
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