When testing is expensive: Australians must deal with a genetic life insurance problem

When testing is expensive: Australians must deal with a genetic life insurance problem

Advocates claim that there is a "urgent" need for protection against genetic discrimination since insurance firms utilize genetic information to calculate rates and policies.

Meg Herrmann made the decision to undergo genetic testing for inherited cancer-causing genes after her mother's breast cancer diagnosis.

"I felt as if I had to know. According to the Brisbane PhD candidate, "Genetics cancer can develop at any time in your life and then you have a 70% chance of developing it."

The 25-year-old had a preventative mastectomy twelve weeks ago. Surgery lowers the risk of breast cancer by almost 95% in those who have the BRCA2 gene.

Despite having made drastic changes in her life to improve her health, her financial future is in jeopardy. She might be refused life insurance under the Disability Discrimination Act due to her genetic testing results indicating a higher risk of cancer.

Submissions for a federal government assessment on the use of genetic test results in life insurance underwriting are closing on Wednesday night, bringing attention to this practice, often known as genetic discrimination.

Insurance firms in Australia have the option to refuse to reimburse the cost of life insurance due to an exception to anti-discrimination laws.genetic data to restrict or enhance

A legislative joint committee in 2018 demanded that the insurance business outlaw genetic discrimination. As of 2019, life insurance firms are not allowed to use the genetic information of applicants who fall below specific criteria due to an industry self-regulated partial moratorium. Retained, including $4,000 monthly for income protection and $500,000 for death insurance. Providers are still legally permitted to seek genetic information under existing legislation.

Because of genetic testing that allows her to take preventive steps, Herrmann—whose great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother all had breast cancer in their 20s—says she is less likely to get a life insurance payment today.

I might become a BRCA2 carrier without realizing it, however, if I were very worried about the hazards genetic testing brings to my financial future. And if I hadn't done genetic testing, my life insurance payment would have required to increase.

Matthew Howie, one of the over 850 individuals and groups who have responded to the consultation document since its release in November, is all too aware with this predicament.

An Adelaide retiree who complained of exhaustion and joint discomfort to a doctor was eventually diagnosed with hemochromatosis. Although iron abnormalities are easily treated, only genetic testing can identify them and they may result in lasting organ damage.

His four children, who are now 71, might potentially have the same illness. A doctor told his granddaughters not to have genetic testing done "because it could affect their insurance".

He encourages first-degree relatives to be tested for hemochromatosis as a volunteer for the advocacy organization Hemochromatosis Australia, but many are concerned about the potential impact on life insurance. Could.

"I'm worried that life insurance deters people from getting tested for genetic disorders and that people don't realize they have symptoms until their body has elevated iron levels," he adds. "Controlling this problem requires early intervention.”

"No one is attempting suicide in order to receive a life insurance payout."

Australia is "far behind" Britain, which decided to outlaw genetic discrimination in 2001, and Canada, where the outright prohibition covers all products and services, not just life insurance. This is according to Dr. Jane Tiller, the main proponent of the comprehensive ban on genetic discrimination.

According to Tiller, "Australian stakeholders don't think the moratorium goes far enough by any means." According to his estimations, over the next ten years, genetic testing will be available to every Australian, making effective protection against genetic discrimination "immediate".

According to statements made by Christine Cupitt, the CEO of the Council of Australian Life Insurers, "it is critical that regulation meets the community's needs as well as appropriately managing both the hazards and expenses of life insurance for all insured persons" in the previous year.

Insurers "take into account [consumers] any evidence-based preventative medicine that reduces the chance of developing a hereditary disease," according to the group.

In November, Australians should "not be thinking about their wallets" when it comes to preventative health, according to Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones.

"Many people in academia, industry and Parliament have worked you should draw attention to this issue and we as a species need to look at it," he said.

Herrmann concurs that the moment has come for people to make investments in their long-term health in order to mitigate the risk of financial ramifications for the whole family.

"No one is attempting suicide in order to receive a life insurance payout," she asserts. "We want to take proactive measures to prevent that."