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Life insurance coverage can’t discriminate due to COVID-19

  • April 16 2020
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Invest

Life insurance coverage can’t discriminate due to COVID-19

By Grace Ormsby
April 16 2020

Frontline workers looking to purchase life insurance can be assured they won’t be excluded from coverage due to potential or actual exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

Life insurance coverage can’t discriminate due to COVID-19

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  • April 16 2020
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Frontline workers looking to purchase life insurance can be assured they won’t be excluded from coverage due to potential or actual exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

Life insurance coverage

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has granted interim authorisation to the Financial Services Council (FSC) and its members to work together in a way that means exposure to COVID-19 can’t be used as a reason to decline life insurance coverage to a frontline health worker.

Similarly, they cannot charge higher premiums or apply risk exclusions to any new policy.

According to the consumer watchdog, the commitment applies to workers, including, but not limited to, doctors, nurses and all hospital workers; ambulance workers and paramedics; people working at GP surgeries or clinics; people working on COVD-19 vaccines; pharmacists; police; aged care workers and volunteers supporting people with COVID-19.

ACCC chair Rod Sims has acknowledged it as “a stressful time for everyone, but especially those working at the frontline of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic”.

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“It’s sadly understandable that such workers may consider life insurance coverage at this time.”

Life insurance coverage

He strongly encourages everyone looking to purchase life insurance to first check the cover they may have under existing policies and through their superannuation fund.

“We see a clear public interest in allowing FSC members to work together to provide a consistent, clear and fair approach to people performing critical work during this pandemic,” Mr Sims said.

“The authorisation does not include co-ordination on pricing, meaning customers should still shop around,” he did concede.

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About the author

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Grace is a journalist on Momentum Media's nestegg. She enjoys being able to provide easy to digest information and practical tips for Australians with regard to their wealth, as well as having a platform on which to engage leading experts and commentators and leverage their insight.

About the author

author image
Grace Ormsby

Grace is a journalist on Momentum Media's nestegg. She enjoys being able to provide easy to digest information and practical tips for Australians with regard to their wealth, as well as having a platform on which to engage leading experts and commentators and leverage their insight.

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