The Leukaemia Foundation welcomes Australian Government decision to ban using adverse genetic testing results in life insurance
In September 2024, the Albanese Government announced that it will end the ability for life insurers to discriminate based on adverse predictive genetic test results.
The Leukaemia Foundation welcomes the Australian Government’s decision to ban the use of adverse genetic testing results in life insurance.
The Albanese Government made the announcement in September 2024, in a major win for not just blood cancer patients and their families, but all Australians applying for life insurance.
“This change will give Australians the confidence to undertake genetic testing without fear it will impact their ability to access financial security through life insurance,” said Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones MP.
The ban will be subject to a 5 yearly review.
‘No Australian should be discouraged from undertaking testing out of fear it may impact their ability to get life insurance,’ an Australian Treasury statement wrote.
‘This decision places Australia as a world leader in removing barriers to genetic testing by stopping the use of adverse predictive test results in life insurance. Advocates have campaigned for this change over the last decade.’
The decision comes eight months after the Leukaemia Foundation provided a submission to the Australian Treasury in January 2024, advocating for a ban on using genetic testing results by life insurers, along with other proponents such as Dr Jane Tiller from Monash University.
‘Using the results of [genetic testing] to discriminate against people is not only unethical, it also disincentivises best practice care and potentially punishes patients for a clinical decision that aims to afford them the best possible care for blood cancers,’ a Leukaemia Foundation statement wrote.
‘Genomics is recognised as a powerful tool in cancer treatment and we should be encouraging its use, not creating uncertainty and potential reasons for clinicians not to use it.
Read the full submission on the Leukaemia Foundation website.
Genomic testing is critical in the diagnosis and treatment of blood cancers because it allows greater accuracy in the diagnosis of the over 120 sub-types, which directly influences treatment decisions.
To learn more, read the full statement on the Australian Treasury’s website: https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/stephen-jones-2022/media-releases/total-ban-use-adverse-genetic-testing-results-life