Malta Today: Gay man claims insurance discrimination

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/06/04/t2.html
4th June 2008, Sabrina Agius

A man who claimed he was discriminated against by his former insurance company in 2003, said his life insurance policy premium was increased because the company assumed he was gay.
Paul Muscat, 44, is gay but says he was warned by friends not to reveal his sexual orientation in a questionnaire by the insurance company, Middlesea, because his premium would be higher simply because he was gay.
The insurance company has categorically denied imposing any premium loadings due to the alleged higher health risks for homosexuals, saying it does not ask its customers to declare their sexual orientation.
But Muscat claims he was asked to declare whether he was gay in the questionnaire he filled in for the life insurance policy, and that he was repeatedly asked whether he was gay by the doctor he was referred to by Middlesea.
The case was brought up by Malta Gay Rights Movement spokesperson Gabi Calleja on PBS’s Reporter, citing cases of discrimination against homosexuals.

Muscat says that in October 2003, he had to take out a life insurance policy for a home loan. He was quoted an annual premium of €204.33 (Lm87.72), and as a general procedure, he was asked by Middlesea Insurance to see a doctor, referred to him by the company, for medical tests, including an HIV test.
Muscat says he was asked to fill in a lifestyle questionnaire provided by Middlesea, to apply for the life policy insurance, which explicitly asked “Are you gay?”
To this question, Muscat denied he was gay: “Some of my gay friends have passed through this same procedure. They had warned me not to reveal my sexual orientation, otherwise, the insurance would increase my premium.”
When the doctor in charge of his medical tests saw the questionnaire, he repeatedly asked Muscat whether he was gay. “I know that people can understand that my appearance leads to obvious conclusions about my sexual orientation, but I denied it because I did not see the point of the question. At the end of the day, all my medical tests were perfectly in order.”
Later on in December, on the day he was due to sign the contract to purchase the property, Muscat received a phone-call from Middlesea, claiming he had not yet paid his insurance premium. But when Muscat went to pay his premium, he was told that he had to pay an additional €349.41 (Lm150) to be insured.
When he asked for an explanation for the increase in the premium, Muscat says his question was ignored.
Yesterday, Muscat said he was “confident” in claiming he was discriminated due to his sexual orientation.
Middlesea insurance CEO David Curmi has categorically denied imposing premium loadings due to the alleged health risks arising from a particular sexual orientation.
Curmi said that none of Middlesea’s applications “ever contained specific questions on sexual orientation”, despite Paul Muscat’s insistence he was asked the question back in 2003.
Asked about the doctor’s questioning of Muscat, David Curmi also said that none of Middlesea’s panel of doctors are instructed to ascertain the sexual orientation of applicants. “We have over 75,000 persons insured with our company and it is expected that our policyholders would have different sexual orientations.”
Curmi said he is aware of Muscat’s case. “Life insurance practice changes over time and over the past six years we have regularly reviewed the questions that we ask in our application forms to ensure that these conform to the international standards of best practice. We do not ask our customers to declare their sexual orientation.”
Curmi said that Middlesea’s life insurance application asks applicants whether they ever tested positive for HIV, Hepatitis B or C, or if they are awaiting such tests, and that the question was modelled on the question recommended as “best practice” by the Association of British Insurers.
Although Curmi said it was an applicant’s standard of health, and not sexual orientation that affects underwriting decisions, he refused to discuss the reason for the premium increase citing data protection laws and professional secrecy.
But he said the company would “welcome the opportunity to discuss the matter in confidence directly with the policyholder”.
The director-general of the Malta Insurance Association, Anton Felice, told MaltaToday that members of the MIA “are not instructed to deny insurance to same-sex couples. Lifestyle and sexual orientation are not determining factors in insurance.”
Felice said insurance companies still have to take into account serious illnesses and medical conditions.