Insurance company questions about HIV status and sexuality are usually asked when you apply for any form of life insurance or health insurance. These questions are asked primarily to identify gay men who will often be refused insurance. Since other types of financial arrangement can also involve life or health insurance you may come across these questions in other situations too, for example, when applying for:

• Mortgages.
• Pension plans or company health and pension schemes.
• `Key man' policies.
• Insurance against loss of income through ill health.
• Credit card protection plans.

HIV and AIDS issues also arise with other types of insurance. For example, travel insurance and motor insurance, see below.

The most common situation is when you apply for a mortgage, see below.

When you apply for life or health insurance the standard proposal form will always ask certain questions:

• Have you received medical attention recently?
• Has any proposal been refused or accepted on special terms (such as a higher premium)?
• You may also be asked at this stage whether you have ever had HIV or AIDS counselling, or an HIV antibody test (even if the result was negative). Following pressure on the insurance industry, life insurance companies should now be phasing this question out, replacing it with a question about positive tests for HIV and hepatitis and tests or treatment for other sexually transmitted infections. For other types of insurance, the old question will probably still be used.

In addition you will be asked to consent to the insurance company approaching your doctor for a medical report (see below).

If you are a single man you will probably also receive a separate, supplementary questionnaire. You may not get it if you are applying for a small amount of life insurance only. Sometimes others get this questionnaire too – for example, if you apply to be insured for a large sum of money.

AIDS has made life and health insurance companies cautious about agreeing to insure various categories of people which insurance companies have classified as `high-risk groups'. They wish to avoid insuring anybody who, in their view, may become infected with HIV. They have therefore developed a series of questions which they use to identify applicants they do not wish to insure, or who will have to pay higher premiums. These questions do not pay any attention to your actual behaviour and whether or not it is risky.

Voluntary agencies and the Minister of Health have pointed out that the notion of high-risk groups is misleading when applied to individuals, since it is risk behaviour and not membership of a particular category which is relevant. Attempts are being made by some voluntary groups to get insurance companies to change their practices. So far these attempts have not been successful, except for the change to questions about prior HIV tests and counselling.

The supplementary questionnaire, which contains these extra questions, will ask directly whether you are (or have been):

• A gay man.
• A bisexual man.
• A hæmophiliac.
• An intravenous drug user.
• A sexual partner of any of these.

For insurance other than life insurance, this questionnaire may also ask (again) whether you have received HIV or AIDS counselling or had an HIV test even if the result was negative.

Life insurance companies should be replacing this question with the new question which only asks about positive tests.

If you are HIV antibody positive

If you are HIV antibody positive you will not get life insurance. If you get health insurance it will exclude any liability to pay for HIV–related illnesses.

If you have tested HIV-negative

Insurance companies insist that they will not refuse you insurance just because you have already had a negative HIV test, and life insurance companies should not ask about prior negative HIV tests at all. They have also said that if you took the test as part of antenatal screening or for `routine' purposes (e.g. at the request of another insurance company) this will be disregarded. But if you had a test on your own initiative they will use this as an indication of lifestyle. It is likely nowadays that the company will take other things into account as well, but if they think you are at risk of HIV infection you will be refused insurance outright. If they do agree to do so, it may well be at a higher premium.

If you are bisexual

If you are gay

If you are gay, or the company thinks you might be, then you may possibly be refused insurance outright. Certainly if the company thinks you are `promiscuous' this is what will happen. But such an outright refusal is less common than it used to be. If you are in a stable relationship, or if the company does not think you are particularly at risk for other reasons, it is likely that you will get insurance, provided that you take an HIV test first and it is negative. However you will probably have to pay a higher (sometimes much higher) premium. Different companies take different views about these matters. An independent financial adviser should be able to advise you on what company to apply to, see Help and advice, below.