First past the post-natal
POST MAGAZINE - 10TH SEPTEMBER 2002
Burgesses has broadened its range of non-discriminatory insurance products with Equality, the first policy to insure women against the complications of pregnancy.
The mortgage payment protection insurance policy provides individual or joint cover against the risks of disability and unemployment irrespective of age, gender, sexuality or occupation.
As well as offering pregnant woman protection, it also covers sexually transmitted diseases including HIV.
Burgesses managing partner Simon Burgess said: “Discrimination on the basis of age, gender or sexuality is not acceptable practice in the 200s and has sinister implications because it puts forward a template to insurers to cherry pick on the grounds of genetic information.”
Equal Opportunities Commission spokeswoman Nicola Frost supports this view. “Section 45 of the Sex Discrimination Act permits discriminatory treatment in insurance by reference to actuarial or other data on which it is reasonable to rely. However the social undesirability of continuing to use gender as a determinant in insurance is particularly obvious and the Act should be repealed.”
Underwritten by Lloyds, Equality is available to all UK resident aged between 18 and 65 and will pay the full costs of owning a house of £2,500 per month, whichever is the lesser, after a waiting period of 30 days.
The policy is simple to purchase on the completion of a form without the need for medical examination.
