Life Insurance With HIV or Hepatitis

What Underwriters Look At

Wondering how an insurer will look at HIV or hepatitis when you apply?

Seeing the likely questions early can give you time to gather your records and apply knowing what to expect.

We’ll begin with the questions an insurer may ask about HIV or hepatitis, answered from your own records.

Each insurer’s underwriter decides on an application and any terms. Since 1 March 2025, the Life Insurance Code of Practice (the Life Code) has committed subscribing insurers to treat HIV like any other medical condition in deciding the cover they offer, and to ask any questions in a sensitive manner. The Code has no equivalent clause on hepatitis, so hepatitis B or C is asked about under each insurer’s own health questions.

What an insurer may ask about, virus by virus:

• HIV: when you were diagnosed, your treatment plan, recent viral load and CD4 results, and any related conditions
• Hepatitis B: whether the infection cleared or is ongoing, your recent liver tests, and any monitoring or treatment
• Hepatitis C: when the infection was first found, any antiviral course with start and end dates, and later test results
• HIV and hepatitis B or C together: any treatment for each virus, and your recent results for both
• A past sexually transmitted infection: which one, the diagnosis date, any treatment, and whether the infection has cleared
• Prescribed medicines you take regularly, including PrEP, listed with the purpose and start date of each
• Liver tests or scans for hepatitis B or C, with the date of each and the doctor who ordered it
• Your occupation, where a trauma policy offers events for HIV or hepatitis acquired at work to some occupations

Life Insurance

If you weren’t here, which costs would you want taken care of for those who matter most?

Life insurance can pay your beneficiaries a lump sum, so there can be money for everyday life.

We can show you what a life application may draw on, from your latest blood results to a doctor’s report.

Life insurance can pay a lump sum if you pass away. A life application can ask about your HIV or hepatitis treatment and your recent results, and depending on your age and the cover amount, its medical tests may include an HIV test. If you’re living with HIV and your blood tests aren’t recent, an insurer may ask you to have one.

What we work through with you for life cover:

• Your latest HIV viral load and CD4 results, listed with their dates and your current treatment plan
• An HIV test among a life application’s medical tests, which can depend on your age and the cover amount
• HIV and hepatitis together on a life application, with recent results for each virus set side by side
• Any condition related to HIV, described with its dates and treatment from your treating doctor’s letters
• Hepatitis B monitoring for a life application, with the dates of your recent liver tests and viral load
• Hepatitis C treatment for life cover: the start and finish dates, and the results recorded since
• Liver scans or other follow-up for hepatitis B or C, set out by date from your specialist’s letters
• Existing life cover that predates an HIV or hepatitis diagnosis, left untouched until any new offer is accepted

Learn more about Life Insurance

TPD Insurance

How would you keep up with everyday costs if you were never able to work again?

A TPD lump sum can go towards those everyday costs if you can’t work again, as the policy defines it.

We can compare TPD definitions with the work you do, including healthcare roles where national guidelines apply.

TPD insurance pays a lump sum if illness or injury means you’re unlikely to work again, as the policy defines it. Own occupation looks at your usual job, while any occupation looks at work suited to your education, training or experience. For healthcare workers who perform exposure-prone procedures, national guidelines set viral load and testing criteria, which can shape how duties are described.

What we compare with you for TPD:

• Own-occupation TPD for healthcare work involving exposure-prone procedures, compared with an any-occupation definition
• Any exposure-prone procedures in a healthcare role, described accurately in a TPD application alongside your other duties
• Your current hours and duties, set out from the facts while you’re living with HIV or hepatitis
• Time off for hepatitis C treatment, listed by date with you where a TPD application asks about it
• Liver monitoring for hepatitis B, and the appointments involved, set out clearly for a TPD application
• TPD in super while living with HIV or hepatitis, where the fund’s own definition decides what a claim must show
• A TPD sum insured sized with you, allowing for any ongoing specialist visits and pathology for HIV or hepatitis
• An existing TPD policy from before an HIV or hepatitis diagnosis, read against the work you do now

Learn more about TPD Insurance

Income Protection

If illness or injury meant months away from work, how would you like the regular bills covered?

Income protection can help with the regular bills by paying part of your income after a waiting period.

We’ll explain how income protection could work around HIV or hepatitis, from the waiting period to any exclusion.

Income protection can replace part of your income if illness or injury stops you working, subject to its waiting period, definitions and exclusions. If an application isn’t accepted on standard terms, the insurer may offer alternative terms, such as an exclusion for the condition or a higher premium. The insurer decides. If an exclusion applies, its wording sets what is still covered.

Income protection points we cover with you:

• Hepatitis C treatment courses and any related days away from work, dated with you for an income protection form
• Appointments for HIV monitoring and treatment, listed with you where an income protection form asks about time off
• The wording of any HIV or hepatitis exclusion, read for the illnesses and injuries left outside its reach
• A higher premium or a hepatitis exclusion in an offer, and what each means for cover and cost, weighed with you
• Healthcare work involving exposure-prone procedures, with your duties described accurately on an income protection application
• Ongoing hepatitis B monitoring, described so your answers about work and time off match your records
• A gradual return to work after time off for HIV or hepatitis, and the policy’s terms on paying a partial benefit
• An income protection policy that predates an HIV or hepatitis diagnosis, read in full before anything is replaced

Learn more about Income Protection

Trauma Insurance

What could pay for treatment and time out after a serious illness, apart from your savings?

Trauma insurance can help fund treatment and time out, for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.

Together, we’ll read the HIV and hepatitis events in a trauma policy, and any exclusion tied to your history.

Trauma insurance pays a lump sum when a listed condition’s definition is met. Some policies list HIV acquired through a medical procedure or at work, and some carry a benefit for hepatitis B or C acquired at work in certain occupations. For someone living with HIV, those HIV events may be removed, while other events can still apply. New trauma cover can’t be held inside super, which has been the rule for policies written since 1 July 2014.

What we read with you in a trauma policy:

• Medically acquired HIV, an event some trauma policies list for HIV contracted through a medical procedure or operation
• Occupationally acquired HIV, a separate event in some trauma policies whose wording we go through line by line
• A needlestick benefit for hepatitis B or C acquired at work, which some policies offer to some occupations
• HIV events removed from a policy for someone already living with HIV, and which other events the wording keeps
• A hepatitis exclusion on new trauma cover, read for what it limits according to its wording
• Your occupation, described accurately where a trauma policy offers its infection-at-work events only to some roles
• HIV and hepatitis B or C both named in one trauma exclusion, read event by event with you
• A trauma sum insured sized with you, set beside the premium after any HIV or hepatitis terms

Learn more about Trauma Insurance

Answering the Health Questions

How much detail belongs in each answer to the health questions?

Going question by question together can help you give the detail each one asks for, from your own records, with reasonable care.

We’ll go through each health question with you, so every answer about HIV or hepatitis matches your records.

Since 5 October 2021, the duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care. Since 1 March 2025, the Life Code has committed subscribing insurers not to ask about your sexual preferences and practices to determine your risk of a sexually transmitted infection, including HIV.

The details we set out with you, from your records:

• Past hepatitis C, including a cure after treatment, answered wherever a question on the application covers past infections
• PrEP or PEP, which CALI’s fact sheet says is likely to fall under a question on regular prescribed medication
• A past sexually transmitted infection, which an application can still ask about as part of your medical history
• The month and year of an HIV diagnosis and each treatment change, copied from clinic or pathology records
• A hepatitis B infection cleared in the past, with the date your doctor confirmed the clearance, where a question asks
• Ambiguous HIV or hepatitis questions, worked through with your financial adviser using your clinic records
• Liver test and viral load results for hepatitis B or C, quoted with the date of each test
• Wording such as “ever had” in a hepatitis question, read with you before you answer about a past infection

Applying With Help

What does an application involve once you’ve decided to go ahead?

Paperwork prepared together, step by step, can make each stage easy to follow, right through to the insurer’s decision.

We can prepare an application with you, from any hepatitis questionnaire to a report from your treating doctor.

At least one insurer offers a hepatitis questionnaire, which may allow a decision without further medical evidence. If you’re living with HIV, an insurer may ask the doctor who treats you for a report on your treatment and recent results. Any terms offered can be discussed with your financial adviser before you accept.

How we prepare an application with you:

• A hepatitis questionnaire, which at least one insurer offers, filled in with you from your test dates
• A report on your HIV treatment and recent results, requested from your treating doctor with your consent
• Applying during hepatitis C treatment or once the course ends, a timing choice we’d talk through with you
• A needlestick injury at work with follow-up HIV or hepatitis tests pending, and when to apply, weighed with you
• Each term in an offer after the HIV or hepatitis questions, talked through before you accept
• An updated HIV viral load and CD4 test, if an insurer wants newer pathology than your file holds
• Reports from any liver clinic or gastroenterologist you see for hepatitis B or C, sought with your permission
• Applications to more than one insurer, considered with you, since insurers can assess HIV or hepatitis differently

Cover You May Already Hold

Could changing any cover in your name mean losing terms that are hard to get back?

Reading your current wording before anything changes can show which terms to keep, so every change can be a considered one.

We can check any cover you already hold, starting with whether an older policy carries an HIV exclusion.

Cover you already hold was issued on its own terms, and the policy wording sets when they can change, so it’s worth reading before you change or replace it. The fact sheet on HIV and life insurance from the Council of Australian Life Insurers (CALI) notes that some older policies may still carry HIV or AIDS exclusions, and says: “Never cancel any insurance until you have new cover in place or understand the full consequences of doing so.”

What we look at in cover you already hold:

• An HIV diagnosis after a policy began, which CALI’s fact sheet says you don’t need to tell your insurer about
• An older life or trauma policy read for any HIV or AIDS exclusion, before you contact the insurer
• A super fund’s default insurance, if you hold it, and how its PDS handles HIV or hepatitis present before that insurance started
• Increasing fund cover while living with HIV or hepatitis, which is usually underwritten like any other application
• Any infection-at-work benefits in a trauma policy you hold, read with you for the occupations they cover
• Cover issued before a hepatitis C cure, read for any terms tied to hepatitis before a replacement is considered
• Replacing an older policy, where new cover could exclude HIV or hepatitis, so we compare the two first
• An HIV or hepatitis exclusion or loading from an earlier underwriting decision, explained clause by clause

Learn more about Life Cover With a Health Condition