Insurance providers have a number of pre-existing medical conditions that add to the risk related to insuring someone. Whereas most pre-existing medical conditions are ailments that directly impact the mortality of an individual, a number of politicians and advocacy groups question whether some insurance companies have taken these clauses too far.

In the past, some insurance companies considered that a victim of domestic violence brought the same health problems to the table as those with pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetic and heart disease. As a result, insurers chose to deny coverage or simply "rate up" a policy based on a history of abuse.

As the most recent instances of this underwriting practice occurred in the health insurance policy market in the mid-to-late nineties, domestic violence victims could also find themselves vulnerable to insurance discrimination in the life and handicap markets.

Victims of domestic violence are seven occasions more likely to go back to their abuser. The risk of harm associated with leaving behind an abusive partner doubles once the victim decides to be able to leave for good, according to statistics by the Family Violence Avoidance Fund, a San Francisco-based advocacy group concerned with teaching the public about domestic abuse.

Violence in the home can also possess lasting psychological and physical effects on its sufferers. The FVPF reports that women who are victims of local violence are 80 percent more likely to have a stroke, 70 percent more prone to suffer from heart disease, 60 percent more likely to have asthma, along with 70 percent more likely to drink heavily than women who have not used partner violence.

And it doesn't stop there. Domestic assault can have a devastating impact on reproductive health, adding to the possibilities of miscarriages, and has been linked to the prevalence of risky intimate behavior and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, based on AARDVARC. org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating along with relationship violence.

The FVPF estimates that intimate companion abuse, rape, and stalking costs the medical and psychological health services industry $8. 3 billion annually throughout direct healthcare costs, in addition to the cost of lost productivity at the office.

While domestic violence may raise certain mortality issues, some say there isn't enough evidence for insurers for you to cancel or deny a policy, create exclusions or cost a higher premium based on that fact.

Kim McKeown, spokesperson for that Society of Actuaries (SOA) says that in some says there are no laws on the books or limited rights involving adverse actions against domestic violence victims, however it's highly unlikely that an insurance company would take this type of position.

"We haven't seen or heard any proof of underwriting domestic violence as a pre-existing medical condition in the life insurance coverage market, " says McKeown. "It is allowed with 14 states, but it's our understanding that it's not becoming applied by insurers and that very few insurers would get that approach. "

Other insurance experts agree.

"It wouldn't be considered a "pre-existing condition" per se, but it may element into the underwriters thought process as it pertains to a final rate class, very well says Ryan Pinney, brokerage director for Pinney Insurance coverage Center, Inc. in Roseville, Calif. "However, this would be difficult to substantiate and even harder to identify, if in fact , it had affected the underwriting decision. This is because your typical underwriter features a series of underwriting guidelines that they must follow when making an underwriting decision. "

Pinney adds that most insurance carriers stick to two primary reinsurance manuals.

"The most popular are Helevetique Re and Gen Re's versions of these. We have duplicates of both and "domestic violence" isn't listed being an underwriting criteria that can or would cause any kind of ranking, " Pinney says. "This leaves only the personal views and decision making ability of the actual underwriter to very first, identify a problem; second, determine that it may lead to increased fatality; and finally, find some other "ratable" reason to increase the underwriting class or decline coverage. I don't think this is probably and to my knowledge it has never occurred with us and also our clients. "

Also, Pinney notes that an insurer would need to provide the applicant with a reason for the decline or decrease in health class.

"I've never had this situation come up, micron says Jack Dewald, chair of the LIFE Foundation, in addition to president and owner of Agency Services, Inc., the life and health brokerage in Memphis, Tenn. "The only possible reason a history of domestic violence might become an underwriting concern is if the fallout led to a mortality issue such as a serious long-term injury. It might be the injury itself and not how that person sustained this. "

Dewald adds that it's doubtful that a victim would certainly admit to domestic abuse on an insurance application with regard to fear of reprisal.

"An insurer would only be aware of indigenous abuse if it showed up on the individual's medical records in which the doctor indicated that he or she suspected domestic violence and the authorities, otherwise this isn't something a life underwriter would likely look for, " says Dewald.

History
In 1994, Charles Schumer, a former New York Representative, surveyed 16 insurance providers and learned that eight companies in the health, life plus disability lines of insurance, denied policies for women who was simply victims of domestic violence.

In 1995, the Birkenstock boston Globe reported that nine major insurers canceled or possibly denied coverage to women based on a history of national abuse.

Following reports of this practice in the media, the actual National Association of Insurance Commissioners issued the Unjust Discrimination Against Subjects of Abuse in Life Insurance Product Act or MDL-896 that specifically outlines prohibitions concerning unfair discrimination by life insurance professionals on the basis of abuse position.

Still, since the NAIC has no regulatory authority over company practices in the insurance industry, the states would have to follow the model for it to become law, says Vanessa Kitchen sink, spokesperson for the NAIC.

"Each state regulates insurance separately. The act must be adopted by the state legislature for this to become state law - before it can be enforced through the state department, " says Sink. "Also, a state might already have a law that covers domestic violence like a pre-existing condition or have handled the regulation in another method. The states are not required to adopt an NAIC product. "

Connecticut, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tn, Vermont and Wyoming do not have laws prohibiting insurance splendour on the basis of domestic violence in the life insurance market, according to the Nationwide Network to End Domestic Violence, an advocacy group worried about ending domestic abuse.

North Carolina introduced a statute that will bans the use of domestic violence as a pre-existing medical condition around individual and group health insurance plans on March one, 2010.

"We maintain that NCDOI does not consider region violence to be a pre-existing condition; it doesn't meet our statutory definition of a medical condition so it could not be considered a pre-existing symptom in any policy including disability and life insurance. Our exact same arguments from last fall and our regulatory oversight and interpretation of North Carolina's insurance laws may not change, " says Kristin Milam, a spokesperson to the North Carolina Department of Insurance.

"This practice is prohibited for specific health products and can be found in the unfair trade practice 38a-816(18). The statute applies to various types of health coverage, such as major healthcare, HMO coverage, hospital and medical-surgical coverage. However , regulations does not apply to life insurance or disability insurance, " claims Connecticut Insurance Department spokesperson Dawn McDaniel. "Me or my colleagues are not aware of any complaints related to this subject. "

The Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Investments and Health Care Administration (BISHCA), doesn't have laws in place in which explicitly prohibit domestic violence discrimination in health, incapacity and life insurance, but Michael Bertrand, Deputy Commissioner associated with Insurance, says that the department does have laws that stop any rating practice that is discriminatory and domestic brutalité would fall under that prohibition.

"We have never seen a credit card applicatoin that deals with domestic violence and if we ever noticed something like that, we would never allow it, " affirms Bertrand.

If you believe your insurance application was rejected because of domestic abuse in the past, there are some steps you can take to remedy the problem.

"They should talk to the insurance regulator in their state or even speak with a consumer advocate. Most departments of insurance plan have offices where consumers can file complaints, in says Nancy Durborow, a specialist for the National Network to finish Domestic Violence. "Also, see what the process is for submitting a complaint, in some states the insurance commissioner can check out a company's underwriting guidelines. "

visit: https://batteredwoman.com