While gender assigned at birth cannot be disregarded in medical underwriting, processes can be made more inclusive of LGBTQ+ customers.
This is according to Juliette Meads, national account manager at Vitality, who was participating in a panel session at the Protection Review’s Protect Z conference in London.
Meads was responding to a question asked by Health & Protection about what can be done by the sector to close the protection gap for LGBTQ+ customers.
Pacific Life Re’s Beneath the Surface report in May showed this group is 11% less likely to have individual protection than their heterosexual counterparts.
Meads said: “Underwriting’s an interesting thing because you can’t load someone for their gender or anything like that,” Meads explained.
She explained: “You have your gender assigned at birth – that’s your medical history.
“But you have the option to say I want to be referred to as x. Maybe that’s a little bit more inclusive and doesn’t make people feel that they are put in a certain box.
“But I do think it’s an education piece in that your medical history does need to be based on the things that you have gone through – so we can’t disregard your previous gender for example.
“I think it’s just about getting the trust back.”
Rainbow washing
But Meads also maintained that UK plc was not getting it right in terms of how certain companies promote Pride Month in changing their logo to rainbow colours.
“I think there is that general criticism – not just in our sector but other sectors, changing their colours. What does that really mean?
“I think there needs to be a step on from that. It’s gaining the trust back.
“I don’t have the answer but I do think that is part of the issue that for a long time, – it’s just been rainbow washing and therefore what’s the point? They’re not really going to care.
“So maybe it’s more influencers from the companies actually saying their piece.”
Fellow panellist Clodagh Griffin, journalist at the News Movement, pointed to research showing inauthentic promotion of Pride actually turns Gen Z consumers off.
“We saw some research which showed that almost 14% of Gen Z would actually disengage with the brand for promoting Pride Month.
“And that’s not because they don’t believe in equality – it’s because they think it’s fake and they want to see you doing it all year round, rather than doing it just one month out of the year.”