{"id":78261,"date":"2025-07-30T12:12:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T02:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=78261"},"modified":"2025-08-04T10:16:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T00:16:41","slug":"insurers-want-action-on-promised-genetic-test-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2025\/07\/30\/insurers-want-action-on-promised-genetic-test-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Insurers Want Action on Promised Genetic Test Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALI is urging the Federal Government to promptly enact legislation prohibiting the use of genetic test results in insurance underwriting.<\/p>\n

Its demand follows a 2024 Government decision to introduce such a law during its current term legally preventing life insurance companies requiring access to consumers’ genetic test results.<\/p>\n

CALI CEO Christine Cupitt<\/strong> says that without a law being put in place, consumers may avoid taking a genetic test for fear the results could be used against them by insurers.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Christine Cupitt, CEO CALI…Australians are seeking certainty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the FSC introduced a Moratorium on Genetic Tests in Life Insurance \u2013 for those seeking life cover up to $500,000 \u2013 research firm Canstar<\/a> states the average new mortgage is $660,000. The state with the largest average home loan is NSW at $795,000.<\/p>\n

See: How the Genetics Moratorium for Life Insurance is Working<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAustralians need certainty,\u201d says Cupitt. \u201cNo one should be deterred from taking genetic tests that help them to better manage their health.<\/p>\n

“Life insurers want to support Australians to manage their health in a preventative way and recognise that genetic testing plays an important part in empowering them to do so.<\/p>\n

Australians want the Government to legislate, and so does our industry…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAustralians want the Government to legislate, and so does our industry. We need legislation to remove uncertainty in the community,” added Cupitt.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Federal Government sought community feedback on the use of genetic test results, and a year later, a Riskinfo<\/em> adviser poll showed slim support for a ban.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The result of our September 2024 adviser poll.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cupitt says the country\u2019s life insurers have long supported the responsible use of genetic testing to help Australians take charge of their health, and in 2019 insurers introduced a mandatory industry standard to restrict the use of genetic test results in underwriting.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot has changed since our industry standard was introduced,\u201d she says. \u201cGiven the advancements in the science and accessibility of genetic testing, now is the time for the Government to act and legislate,” said Cupitt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry has welcomed the Government\u2019s recommitment to include a five-year review, which will be essential to ensure the law keeps pace with the ever-evolving genetic testing landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to see all our reports on genetic tests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CALI is urging the Federal Government to promptly enact legislation prohibiting the use of genetic test results in insurance underwriting. Its demand follows a 2024 Government decision to introduce such a law during its current term legally preventing life insurance companies requiring access to consumers’ genetic test results. CALI CEO Christine Cupitt says that without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":78267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[282,8,8282,8281],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-associations","category-compliance-regulation","category-government","category-health-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}