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Cancer patients could be denied life insurance

Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006

Many female cancer patients could be denied life insurance cover or charged expensive premiums if new industry proposals are introduced.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) wants to request that women applying for cover be tested for inherited gene mutations that could make them more likely to develop breast or ovarian cancer, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The request has yet to be approved by the Genetics and Insurance Committee (GIAC) but if supported many women could be forced into paying higher premiums or in some cases being refused life insurance cover.

An ABI spokesman told the newspaper that: "No application has been submitted yet. If it did go through it would only apply to a small proportion of people with high value policies."

A number of European countries have already introduced laws that prevent insurers from using genetic test results to decide life insurance premiums and the proposals have raised concerns amongst a number of cancer and genetic organisations.

Dr Helen Wallace, the deputy director of Gene Watch UK, said: "People should be able to make the difficult decision about taking a predictive genetic test on health grounds alone without the fear that it could affect the financial implications. Genetic testing should not become a vetting tool for employers and insurance companies."


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