Summary
Sometimes gays experience difficulty when buying life insurance but in recent years the position has improved. This article explains.
You are possibily going to want life insurance if you would like to insure your income or your health in case you become poorly and incapable of working – something which is extremely vital for a single person or people with dependents, including a similar-sex partner.
Furthermore there are events, like purchasing a home property, when life assurance might be called for and you need to compare mortgage insurance.
Insurers might want to know if you are gay. They will require you to fill in an application document which will incorporate particulars about whether your live-in partner is in the homosexual grouping.
The request for information might not be instant but the company will then mail an intrusive questionnaire on daily life.
It will be tempting not to reveal information or to give made up details but this would only invalidate your insurance and is subsequently very stupid idea. In addition, this could make considerable difficulties when reapplying to other life insurance companies.
When the application document has been completed, you may then be requested to take a test to find out if you are Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive. There isn’t any fixed regulations on testing and insurers are somewhat hit and miss in their selection process.
If your test for HIV proves positive, it will be hard to buy products associated with life assurance. Just taking the blood test alone can end in a denial of cover by some insurance companies, even if the test result is negative.
Althouth you pass all the relevant tests satisfactorily various insurers will in spite of everything want two or three times as much. The majority of insurance companies will insist on HIV testing for homosexual gentelmen who want income payment protection policies or critical illness cover even though neither would settle an HIV related claim.
Luke Turner, of Smythes and Co, a financial adviser located in Cheshire, says: ‘it’s not pleasant knowing the insurer can claim ownership to some of your blood.” Understandably the test can be traumatic.
He recommends that you take the test on your terms prior to going to an insurer. To prevent insurers being allowed admittance to areas of your medical records, a few people advise getting drug or STD treatment at nameless treatment centres which are available in nearly every town or city. The National Aids Helpline or the Melton Aims Trust might be able to help you find the right one.
There is at present an agreement between The Association of British Insurers and The British Medical Association whereby doctors should not be asked to produce details on Sexually Transmitted Infections and negative Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) tests. Different procedures will help to make the risk assessment assumed by insurance more up- to- date by ensuring that protected sexual behaviour, rather than sexuality, is the criterion.
Although it could be some time before new regulation are fully put into practice, gay applicants can generally nevertheless attain the cover they require even in the current system. Independent financial professionals, focusing in gay finance could generally find insurance cover without any need for testing and on nearly the same terms that are appropriate to heterosexual applicants.
If you are gay and looking for a great deal, shopping on-line, via MSN, Yahoo or Google can also generate some of the less expensive quotes.