Insurers to go easy on gay questioning

Life assurers will no longer be able to ask male applicants questions about their sexuality under new guidelines, designed to modernise the industry’s underwriting of HIV risk which come into force on Saturday.

Insurers have up until now asked male applicants to disclose if they were bisexual or homosexual to screen for HIV risk. But gay rights campaigners called for an end to the practice, which resulted in gay men having to take HIV tests even if they were celibate or in long-term relationships.

Last year the industry partly conceded to these demands, changing its statement of best practice for HIV so that women and heterosexual men willcould also be potentiallyscreened for the disease. From October insurers should also have reworded their documents so that all male and female applicants, regardless of their sexuality, are asked if they have ever been tested for HIV or if they have been exposed to the risk of HIV in the last five years.

“What these companies will do now is focus on behaviour rather than sexuality,” says Stonewall, the gay rights group. “This is a very important step and it is part of our campaign to remove discrimination against gays and lesbians in the provision of goods and services.”

Under other changes coming into force in Octoberthis month, life assurers should no longer ask GPs about their patient’s sexuality, a practice which many considered highly intrusive and controversial as it was done without the applicant’s permission.

Insurers will also be prevented from engaging in “speculative underwriting”, a practice whereby HIV risk was linked to the applicant’s occupation. “Clients were being singled out for HIV tests because they were hairdressers or ballet dancers or in other creative fields,” says Chris Morgan of Compass, the independent financial adviser specialising in gay finance. “We would ask the company why and they were unable to give us a specific reason. We were finding pPresumptions were made about the applicant’s sexuality because of their job.”

Insurers this week predicted that the rewording would have little effect on base line premiums, even though more people would be asked about their behaviour. “There is a possibility [premiums could fall],” says Nick Kirwan, protection market director at Scottish Widows. “However, this could happen at the margins as not everyone is high risk.”

But reinsurers, which set the underwriting terms for the industry, say gay males are unlikely to see any changes in their premiums after October. “From an historical point of view the industry could have been accused of rating up men because they were gay,” says Jerry Brown, chief underwriter with Swiss Re, the reinsurer.

“About five years ago, gay males were paying double to three times the rate but since then premiums have got lower.”

While gay rights campaigners have welcomed the new guidelines coming into force today, they argue men may still find it tough to get insurance. Females and married males will only be required to have an HIV test for sums assured of £1m or above. However the same threshold for single males is just £250,000 and this lower threshold may even be applied to gay men who enter Civil Partnerships, which give them the same legal status as marriage. Civil Partnerships come into force in December.

“At the moment I would say that gay couples are less monogamous than straight couples,” says Tony Jupp, chief underwriter with Norwich Union. “I assume this through the amount of infection between men having sex with men and most of these men will be in relationships.

“I haven’t seen anything that says a change in legal status will change this behaviour so we say single males will have to have a test at £250,000, but this could easily change before December as I see more evidence.”

The ABI said that the industry’s guidance on Civil Partnerships has yet to be formulated but this will be discussed at a working party, which involved industry members, medical professionals and gay rights campaigners. However, Jonathan French, ABI spokesman, the ABI says its approach is clear: “The guidance makes it very clear that companies cannot discriminate against people on the basis of their sexuality.” says Jonathan French, ABI spokesman. “The expert working group will meet to consider all aspects of the recognition of Civil Partnerships in due course, including life insurance, and will issue guidance accordingly.”