{"id":84743,"date":"2025-08-21T10:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T10:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/84743\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T10:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T10:41:13","slug":"ban-on-genetic-test-results-in-underwriting-vital-for-client-certainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/84743\/","title":{"rendered":"Ban on genetic test results in underwriting vital for client certainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Financial Services Minister Daniel Mulino recommitted the government to legislating a ban on the use of genetic test results<\/a> in life insurance underwriting last month, with the move receiving a clear backing from the life insurers.<\/p>\n

According to Acenda chief operating officer Jane Murray, who leads underwriting, once the ban is legislated, it will provide certainty for Australians and allow them to undertake genetic testing without concern that adverse results will be held against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one should be deterred from taking genetic tests that help them better manage their health. That\u2019s the really simple message that I think all of us are championing in government interactions,\u201d Murray said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverarchingly, and the reason for the ban, is that we want to support the responsible use of genetic testing to help Australians take charge of their health and that sense of empowerment and lack of fear of discrimination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do believe that allowing individuals to voluntarily disclose any genetic results that may better their underwriting outcome and benefit their ability to attract cover is still really important. That approach would allow and empower people to make informed decisions about their health and ensures that genetic testing remains a tool for wellness, not exclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Importantly, she said, the health of the whole community will benefit if more people are able to engage in genetic testing and proactively address their health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re actually hoping that the legislation will assist Australians to make decisions to use the testing, and there\u2019s a really big role for us to play in promoting that and informing that it\u2019s another tool to help them better understand their holistic health profile,\u201d Murray said, adding that it can help lead to better health outcomes across the whole community.<\/p>\n

She added that the insurer sees advisers as having a \u201ccritical role in that trust relationship to help educate consumers\u201d as they\u2019re engaging in client conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s a shared effort between insurers and advisers to support our customers and all Australians about understanding the role genetic testing can play in their sort of proactive health and wellbeing,\u201d Murray said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would provide guidelines in that really strong relationship between our underwriters and advisers around any guidance that we can offer there, but we see advisers always playing that really critical role in helping Australians navigate their life insurance decisions and supporting their financial decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also the flow-on benefit for insurers that a more proactive and healthier community would potentially reduce payouts for things like TPD.<\/p>\n

\u201cA healthier Australian community is healthier for life insurers because of the way pools work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Financial Services Minister Daniel Mulino recommitted the government to legislating a ban on the use of genetic test…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[64,63,336,128],"class_list":["post-84743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genetics","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-genetics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}