Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - April 1, 2007

This follows a best-practice recommendation by the association to its member offices to waive existing HIV/Aids exclusions for all lump-sum death and disability benefit claims submitted from April 1 this year. As a result, in the future, no claim for a lump-sum death or disability benefit will be denied by any of these life companies based on the HIV/Aids status of the insured person, unless the policyholder is found guilty of material non-disclosure.

Making the announcement at a joint media briefing with the Aids Law Project, LOA chief executive Gerhard Joubert said even though the recommendation was not binding, all association members had agreed to waive the exclusions.

HIV/Aids exclusion clauses will be waived for all types of life and disability cover that pay lump-sum benefits, including group life, credit life and funeral cover.

The waiving of exclusions does not apply in the case of:

* Income-protector policies and hospital cash plans;

* Policies requiring regular retesting;

* Cases in which policyholders have committed material non-disclosure. This is particularly relevant to low-premium policies like funeral policies, which often rely on disclosure rather than HIV testing. Fatima Hassan, a senior attorney with the Aids Law Project, said: "We believe that uncertainty about this disease resulted in the life industry imposing an outdated model on people living with HIV/Aids.

"For years, the ALP has been representing beneficiaries who did not receive a benefit because the policyholders died after contracting the virus although they were HIV negative when they took out their policies."

Pieter Coetzer, the convenor of the LOA's medical and underwriting committee, said, "provided there is full compliance with antiretroviral treatment, HIV/Aids is considered a treatable disease like diabetes, and is therefore insurable".

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