Insurers to ease rules for doctors on sexual health disclosure
Insurers will no longer be allowed to ask doctors for every aspect of applicants' sexual health history, following the publication of new joint guidelines ' Medical Inform- ation and Insurance ' from the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
The guidelines, which have taken the BMA and ABI over three years to agree upon, state there is no reason to disclose single incidents of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), or even multiple episodes, provided there are no long-term health implications.
In line with existing ABI guidelines, the new rules also state insurers should not ask whether applicants have taken an HIV or Hepatitis B or C test; had related counselling or received a negative test result. It is hoped this clarification will prevent people being deterred from getting tested for STIs or HIV, for fear of being penalised by underwriters.
Dr Michael Wilks, chairman of the BMA's Ethics Com- mittee, said: 'Doctors are only experts in clinical matters, yet insurers ask us about lifestyle issues. These guidelines set out exactly how much information doctors should reveal.'
Richard Walsh, head of health at the ABI, said the joint guidelines are an important breakthrough. However, the rules on STIs form just one part of the agreement and he added both the ABI and the BMA had to make hard compromises.
'It has been a really long, tortuous process and the guidance is very much a compromise by us and the BMA. There are some things we do not like in it and some things they do not like in it. But we had to come up with an agreement. If we did not then sections of the GP community would actually have stopped putting their reports out,' he said.
According to Walsh, there will still be ongoing neg- otiations over unresolved items, such as the GP report form itself and GP fees.
'There are some GPs that just do not like insurance and do not want to do the work, no matter how much you pay,' he added.
