1. SECTIONS:
2. preface & acknowledgements
3. genetics at a glance
4. contacts, support & testing
5. testing & pregnancy
6. newborn screening
7. cancer in the family
8. cardiovascular conditions
9. chromosomal conditions
10. clotting & bleeding conditions
11. cystic fibrosis
12. diabetes
13. fragile X syndrome and other causes of developmental delay
14. haemoglobinopathies
15. hereditary haemochromatosis
16. neurofibromatosis
17. neurological conditions
18. psychiatric conditions
19. genetics in practice
20. emerging genetic technologies
21. glossary

Health and life insurance issues

 

1. Private health insurance is community rated and so does not take into account genetic information but will take into account any existing condition. However, an asymptomatic individual with a positive predictive genetic test result does not have a pre-existing condition.
   
2. Genetic information that includes a family history and the results of predictive genetic tests are taken into account in applications for life insurance products. This includes cover for death, disability/income protection, trauma/crisis care, business and insurance relating to bank loans.
   
3. The Investment and Financial Services Association Ltd (IFSA), an organisation representing most insurance companies in Australia, has a policy on genetic testing and life insurance products. This policy does not extend to General Insurers who offer travel insurance.

 

1. The IFSA policy states that an individual will not be required to undergo a predictive genetic test in order to obtain life insurance or to increase the cover in a policy.
   
2. However, under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984, a person applying for insurance has a duty “to disclose to the insurer every matter that you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, that is relevant to the insurer’s decision.”

 

1. While some insurance companies will ask for more specific details than others, applicants must disclose all known genetic information about their relatives or themselves that would be relevant to the assessment of their risk, over and above the questions asked. This would include predictive test results of their relatives. Failure to do so may render a claim invalid.
   
2. This information may have a range of consequences, depending on the condition involved and whether the genetic test was positive, uninformative or negative:
3. No effect on insurance premiums
   
4. Premiums previously that were non-standard (eg loaded) returning to standard (eg if a predictive genetic test is negative, it can remove the influence of a family history)
   
5. Lead to higher (non-standard) insurance premiums
   
6. Result in a reduced period of coverage
   
7. Result in an exclusion for one or more medical conditions
   
8. Lead to the offer of an alternate insurance product
   
9. Deferral or denial of an offer to insure an individual
10. If an application is held or taken out before a genetic condition is diagnosed or before a risk is identified through a predictive genetic test, the applicant does not have to disclose this new information. Life insurance cover is guaranteed renewable and, so as long as the premiums are paid, that cover will apply.
    
11. As costs of insurance and ability to obtain cover may vary from one insurance company to the next, patients may wish to make multiple applications to a range of companies at the same time.

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