Wednesday 18th June 2008
The moratorium allowing consumers to take out significant amounts of insurance cover without having to disclose adverse results of predictive genetic tests has been extended to 2014, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has announced.
Director general of the ABI Stephen Haddrill states that the moratorium has proved to be effective since it was introduced in 2001 and that it can now continue for several years to come.
He explains: "The moratorium on the use of predictive genetic test results works well for consumers. It means people can insure themselves and their families, even if they have had an adverse result from a predictive genetic test."
The ABI defines a predictive genetic test as the examination of chromosome structure or the detection of abnormal patterns in the DNA of specific genes.
It also suggests that the broad classes of insurance that genetic test results could be relevant to are confined to life, income protection and critical illness cover.
The code of practice states that applicants are under no obligation to take a predictive genetic test and are also not required to make the results of such analysis known.
Furthermore, the code prevents insurers from using information from predictive genetic test results to underwrite unless an applicant chooses to disclose a favourable result to annul a potential exclusion or rating that would have been applied to them due to their family history.
Under the terms of the code, insurers may also use test results to underwrite if the test is approved by the Genetics and Insurance Committee as both reliable and relevant and the insurance application is above the moratoriums financial limits.
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