When Peta Friend applied for death insurance, the young employee she spoke to on the phone told her that she could not be listed as a woman in the policy.
Key points:
- A report commissioned by the insurance industry has found widespread discrimination against LGBTQIA + people
- Discrimination and exclusion ranged from wrongdoing to denied insurance products
- The insurance industry says it will heed the recommendations
“In the open air, I really wanted to let them know that I was assigned a man at birth, but that I had gone through the social and legal change of being recognized as a woman,” Ms. Friend said.
“It was a surprise to see that she (the insurance company employee) had assigned me as a man, and she wasn’t moving forward.”
He needed a complaint from management to resolve the issue.
This is not the first time a 60-year-old transgender woman has faced discrimination when applying for insurance products, just the latest example.
“It’s incredibly frustrating for me and my community,” he said.
“I’ve had this experience now as a woman for 25 years, and still having to struggle to prove my identity is a little tired, and it shouldn’t be happening.”
Ms. Friend has also had trouble accessing income protection insurance and was forced to undergo psychiatric assessments because she was transgender.
“A lot of people in the insurance world still see being transgender as a mental illness,” he said.
“It is not enough to have a rainbow flag on your website.
“True diversity occurs when all team members are educated on how to deal with people from the trans and diverse community.”
A new national survey of LGBTQIA + people found that while two-thirds of respondents had experienced excellent service when dealing with insurance companies, almost one in two (47%) reported discrimination or exclusion when they went alone. Apply for insurance.
A national survey of LGBTQIA + people found that 47% had experienced discrimination or exclusion when applying for insurance. (ABC News: Kathleen Calderwood)
Of those who reported being excluded and discriminated against, rates were higher among those who identified as trans and gender diverse, people living with HIV, people with a variety of sexual characteristics, and sex workers.
The types of discrimination and exclusion ranged from bad gender to denial of insurance policies.
Two out of five respondents had difficulty updating the information, and three-quarters of trans and gender respondents said they had difficulty self-declaring their gender.
Just over two out of five respondents had been reluctant to file an insurance claim.
The Victorian Pride Lobby survey, Worth the Risk, was commissioned by the Insurance Industry InterInsurance Group, which is made up of employees from the LGBTQIA + insurance industry and allies from 15 companies.
The survey of 500 LGBTQIA + people asked about their experience with the following types of insurance: life, health, car and vehicle, travel, business, home construction and content.
The insurance industry “ran aground in 1992”
Nic Holas of the Victorian Pride Lobby said the findings of the report would not surprise members of the LGBTQIA + community.
“But it’s great to finally have the data to show that LGBTQIA + people experience discrimination and have trouble accessing insurance,” he said.
Nic Holas says understanding of the HIV insurance industry is deadlocked in 1992. (ABC News: Simon Tucci)
“We have found that people who suffer discrimination or problems at various times in their journey access insurance, apply online, have their products rejected or even along the way when they make insurance claims.”
Many types of insurance have a “risk rating” and are influenced by personal factors.
Under federal and state sex discrimination laws, insurers cannot deny insurance to clients based on their gender identity, sexual orientation, or sexual characteristics.
However, discrimination law expert Liam Elphick of Monash University said insurers were exempt from discriminating when drafting the terms of a person’s policy if the discrimination was reasonably based on actuarial or statistical data.
“For example, that’s why insurers can charge higher premiums for younger men when it comes to car insurance, because they’re statistically more likely to cause a car accident than other demographics in society.” , Elphick, who is also a policy advisor to the Victorian Pride Lobby, said.
“The problem we see with LGBTQIA + people is that they often make wrong assumptions about parts of their lives, and that’s the basis of discrimination rather than actual risk data,” Elphick added.
The Australian Commission on Human Rights provides guidelines on when discrimination is unreasonable.
It includes refusing to insure someone because the provider has no data, or refusing to insure people because of historical or stereotypical practices, or imputing a disability or medical condition not disclosed by a person.
Elphick said the Victorian Pride Lobby findings suggested that not all insurance providers were doing the right thing.
The findings of the Victorian Pride Lobby suggested that not all insurance providers are doing the right thing. (AP: Anna Szilagyi)
“It’s always shocking to see high levels of discrimination against LGBTQIA + people in any part of society and insurance doesn’t seem to be any different,” he said.
“We also saw examples of good practice that the industry should adopt, but we need more transparency on what data insurers rely on to make certain decisions about inclusions and exclusions.”
Mr. Holas also has first-hand experience of discrimination when dealing with insurance companies.
As a person living with HIV, he has struggled to get travel insurance.
On his last trip abroad, to World Pride in New York in 2019, he had to rely on his community networks to find an HIV-friendly insurance provider.
Her HIV-free partner was able to obtain cheaper travel insurance through a major provider.
“When we need insurance, we have to go through a lot of extra hoops to get it or certain vendors reject us and we have to pay more for very small boutique vendors,” he said.
HIV used to be considered a death sentence, but these days advances in medical treatment mean that people living with the disease can have a normal life expectancy.
Mr. Holas said HIV respondents also reported being denied life insurance policies.
“We are still being asked about unprotected anal sex when we apply for life insurance, as that will affect whether or not we will be able to access these products,” he said.
“Broadly speaking, it seems that the understanding of the HIV insurance industry is stuck in 1992 and we are here by 2022.
“A lot of things have changed. And it’s time for the industry to update its knowledge and information as well.”
What is the solution?
The Worth the Risk report makes 24 recommendations to improve LGBTQIA + inclusion among insurance providers.
He said the changes were to be led by the most important bodies in the industry, the Insurance Council of Australia and the Financial Services Council.
Some of the recommendations are for insurers to provide publicly available information about whether LGBTQIA + people are covered by their insurance policies and how they are covered by their insurance policies, staff inclusion training, and ask the Services Council Financiers should update their code of conduct for life insurance to include more explicit guidance. about vulnerable customers, including members of the LGBTQIA + community.
The Pride Lobby also calls for updated HIV subscription guidelines, actuarial data, and statistics to reflect current medical advice, a consistent approach to risk rating based on sex and gender, along with the elimination of exclusions. or unnecessary premium charges.
The Financial Services Council (FSC), which represents retirement funds and life insurers, was not available for an interview.
However, an FSC spokeswoman said in a statement: “This report highlights important issues with the treatment of LGBTQIA + consumers.”
He added that an updated code of practice for life insurance will be published soon “… following an extended public consultation and [it] it is going to somehow address these concerns, although the industry recognizes that there is always room for improvement. “
The Insurance Council supports changes in HIV risk
Insurance Council Executive Director Andrew Hall backed the report’s calls for the data used to inform HIV policies to be updated.
Andrew Hall says some of the interactions described in the report are disappointing. (ABC News: John Gunn)
“I think areas like HIV need to be reconsidered,” he said.
“I think we need to look at them very carefully because now it’s clearly a chronic disease, and maybe some of these areas haven’t been updated in a few years. And I think that’s something that insurers should do. have a look”.
Hall said the industry had commissioned the report to better understand where it could do better and would now work with the recommendations.
“People should not be discriminated against,” he said. “This is always a starting point.”
“It’s a case that when people take out some of these products, some awkward questions can be asked, but how they are done and how they are treated with sensitivity is very important,” he added.
Holas said insurers dictating the terms for the insurance industry needed to take a look at the science and data they used to model the insurance industry’s underwriting as a whole.
“This is a pretty big project,” he said.
“We know this will not happen overnight, but we are very excited that this report will come from the industry, to give us the opportunity to advocate for these changes.”
Holas said the insurance industry could change the way LGBTQIA + people interact.
“I really hope the excitement from within …