Group income protection (GIP) provider UnumProvident has removed the AIDS/HIV exclusion on its policies. The company said it was the first GIP to scrap the exclusions.
From 8 April all quotations will automatically have HIV/AIDS cover included, with all existing policies having the exclusion removed on their renewal date.
UnumProvident customer services director Cheryl Stewart said: “Our decision to remove any automatic HIV/AIDS exclusion is a market first and exemplifies our progressive, forward-thinking stance as market leader.”
“The move reflects wider social and policy changes designed to stop discrimination against disabled people in the workplace such as upcoming adjustments to The Disability Discrimination Act as well as The Data Protection Act.”
From October 2004, HIV/AIDS will be deemed as a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and therefore full protection from the DDA will be extended to individuals with HIV/AIDS.
From an employer's point of view, this means that should an individual with HIV/AIDS be dismissed or discriminated against, because of a reason relating to their disability, that individual may be able to claim discrimination under the DDA, said UnumProvident.
The Data Protection Act (DPA) also influences the decision to remove the exclusion, said the company. One of the many rights that an individual has under the DPA is to decline consent for his or her employer to be told they have HIV/AIDS.
Until 8 April 2004, HIV/AIDS is the only policy exclusion UnumProvident applied to GIP. As such, if it were disclosed to the employer that a claim was declined on the basis of 'exclusion', it would have told, in effect, the employer that the individual was HIV positive or had AIDS.
By removing the exclusion, UnumProvident said it believed it was protecting the individual's rights under the DPA.
