One In Two LGBT Australians Have Faced Discrimination In Insurance
A recent experience with the customer service of an insurer left Sydney-based trans woman Peta Friend, who was applying for funeral insurance, frustrated. “As a trans woman, when dealing with insurance companies, I shouldn’t just hope for a positive outcome, I should expect and get it every time,” says Friend.
For Nic Holas, as a person living with HIV, some insurance products are simply not available. The insurance sector, according to Holas, continues to view HIV from a 1990s lens, denying the community many insurance products.
The report ‘Worth the Risk: LGBTIQA+ experiences with insurance providers‘ was prepared by the Victorian Pride Lobby and commissioned by InterInsurance Group, that is focussed on improving the experience of LGBTIQA+ customer.In 2021, the Lobby conducted a survey of 493 LGBTQI Australians about their experiences with insurance products, including health, car and vehicle, travel, home and contents, life, income protection and disability and business. “We hope our landmark report can be a positive turning point for Australia’s insurance industry,” Nevena Spirovska, Victorian Pride Lobby Co-Convenor, said in a statement.
The report found that some of the most common discriminatory practices were assumptions made about the gender of the person applying for the product or their partner and intrusive questions about their sex lives.
