Thousands of women with family histories of breast and ovarian cancer could pay higher insurance premiums or even be denied cover altogether under new proposals from the insurance industry.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) is expected to lodge an application for permission for its members to ask women whether they have been tested for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.

The faulty BRCA genes are responsible for about five per cent of the 41,700 new cases of breast cancer and 10 per cent of ovarian cancers diagnosed in Britain each year.

If the insurers are granted permission by the Genetics and Insurance Committee (the organisation that advises the Government on the issue), women who have tested positive could be forced to pay higher premiums. Some companies may even refuse high value life or critical illness insurance.

A notice published on the GIC’s website said, “The Committee expects that the Association of British Insurers will submit in late 2006/2007 four revised and updated applications for the use of adverse results from predictive genetic tests of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes (breast/ovarian cancer) in helping to determine insurance premiums for life and critical illness insurance.”

At present, the only predictive genetic test the committee has allowed insurance companies to ask about is for Huntington’s Disease. This is because of the lack of environmental influences on its development.

However, across Europe, several countries have banned insurers from using genetic tests to decide premiums. Also, in 2005, a voluntary agreement to avoid using such tests by British insurance companies was extended until 2011.

Under this agreement, insurers can ask potential customers only about genetic testing results for Huntington’s Disease. However, they can only ask for the information for policies that are worth more than £500,000 for life insurance, more than £300,000 for critical illness and more than £30,000 a year for payment protection.

But the association’s genetics working party has indicated that it would like to bring about a change seeking permission to ask about two cancer genes and wants approval by the end of the year.

Approximately one in 850 women in Britain inherits a faulty BRCA1 gene. Those women will have a 14 to 18 per cent chance of developing breast cancer at some point in their lives.

Meanwhile insurers are not allowed to ask prospective policyholders if they have HIV, but they can ask them if they have exposed themselves to the risk of infection through unsafe sex or sharing needles.

An alliance of 45 leading charities, unions, scientists and lawyers have called on the Government to ban this genetic discrimination.

A study carried out by the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer found 28 per cent of women with a family history of breast cancer said the would be deterred from having a genetic test if insurers had access to the results.

If you are a small business owner, it is wise to offer your employees some type of health insurance. Group health insurance is very helpful to employees, because we all know how expensive it is and how important it is to have. But to be able to get inexpensive health insurance, you have to enroll in a small business owner’s health insurance plan.

To have your business considered a small business, there should be a minimum of two permanent employees to a maximum of fifty. If for instance you have fifty-five employees among who five are freelance and part-time employees, then your business is still considered a small business.

The small business owner health insurance assists proprietors and owners in cases of health emergencies. Once insured, a small business owner can make use of the benefits listed under the health insurance. Often times, what the health insurance does for the small business owner is pay for any hospital, medical and professional fees incurred during hospitalization or check-ups due to illness.

However, for most employers and small business owners, the thought of getting health insurance own their own is still something to think about. It may be very useful if the insured is plagued by ailment or illness, however the costs for acquiring and enrolling in a plan can prove to be quite expensive.

Due to the high cost of small business owner health insurance, some owners form group’s s to be able to purchase health insurance. Purchasing group health insurance is much easier on the pocket than acquiring one as an individual.

Like the ostrich, are you sticking your head in the sand when it comes to insuring yourself? According to recent statistics from the insurance industry, sales of the most basic personal protection insurance products, i.e. life insurance and income protection, have been falling, despite reductions in premiums.

Maybe people think if they ignore the need for such insurance, it may go away. It’s never going to happen to them - it can’t. But it can and it does. Lack of income protection may be a disaster for you and your family. Lack of life insurance would mean devastation for them and there would be nothing whatsoever that you could do about it.

The insurance industry are quite right to be concerned about the reasons for the decline and are clearly making a great effort to communicate the value of both health and income protection and life cover. As one critical illness provider stated, they have received a lot of negative media coverage regarding rejections of claims and payment delays. However, they also make the comment that “Providers are now publishing their claim statistics, and this transparency is helping to improve consumer trust.”

The industry feels that some of the problem may lie in their application forms. These are not particularly user-friendly and people can be discouraged from filling in long and complicated-looking forms. Some of the definitions in the policies are very difficult to comprehend and frankly uninspiring. Maybe what is needed is a new look at the marketing of these products with a view to producing more simple and easy to understand literature.

Critical illness cover is designed to pay out an agreed sum should you be diagnosed with any of a list of serious illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, strokes, diseases of the nervous system etc.,

It’s a worrying fact that one in three people will suffer from some type of cancer in their lifetime. Improvements in diagnosis and treatment are encouraging, but taking some types of leukaemia as one example, the treatment can last as long as 18 months or more and return to full time work could be delayed for some time after that. The medical conditions covered will be clearly shown on the policy and this should be studied carefully. The cover is designed to give you and your dependants a cash sum at a critically important time, leaving you to get on with your treatment and recovery. It is extremely important that you disclose all previous illnesses, no matter how trivial. As soon as a claim is made, the first thing the insurer will do is to go through your medical history with a fine tooth comb. Tell them everything and you’ll not have a problem.

The effect of critical illness can be far-reaching. You may need to change your career, your car or even your home. It’s not a time to be worrying about where your next pay cheque will be coming from. Do consider this really important form of insurance.

A shocking fact is that almost 50% of the population of the UK have absolutely no form of life cover. If you are single, have no debts and absolutely no dependants in need of support in the event of your death, then you probably have no need of life insurance. How many people are in this position?

It’s possible that you have some form of insurance through your employment. Check this with your employer. There may be an element of income protection or life assurance but almost certainly this will need topping up.

There are several types of life cover. Term insurance means that your life is covered for an agreed term. Commonly this fits in with the life of your mortgage, or maybe a loan. A whole of life policy is payable on your death.

As far as your family is concerned, would they be able to continue with their current lifestyle if the worst was to happen? Provision should be made for them. At the very minimum you need to cover the period until the youngest child can reasonably be expected to become fully independent.

Don’t delay. Take advice on the amount of cover you need. Critical illness and life insurance are imperative if your family is to have financial security. Unless by any chance you happen to be a millionaire!

You’ll find all the advice and help that you need if you go online. It’s no use going to an individual insurer, it’s better to find an experienced broker who’ll compare the various companies and come up with some options for you. There’ll only be one session of form filling and then you can relax and know that you’ve taken the first important steps to protect your family.

Good health and long life.

Health insurance will pay specified sums for medical expenses or treatments and can offer many options and approaches to coverage. There are different types of health insurance coverage designed to meet your needs and budget. Health insurance is a risk management tool which helps you ensure that you and your family have access to the healthcare you need without causing a tremendous financial burden. There are two main types of health insurance. One is called an indemnity plan which reimburses you for medical expenses regardless of which provider you use.

An indemnity plan is also called a reimbursement plan, as it reimburses you for your medical expenses. The amount that can be reimbursed depends whether you have reimbursement of actual charges, where the insurer reimburses you for the actual cost of your medical care, or reimbursement of a percentage of actual charges, where the insurer pays a set percentage of the actual charges on covered procedures and services, and you pay the difference.

Another type is indemnity is where the insurer pays a specified amount per day regardless of the actual cost of care. But you need to remember that reimbursements will never be more than the actual expenses.

Another category is called managed care plans, in which there is an arrangement between an insurer and a network of selected health care providers. They offer financial incentives to the insured to encourage them to use the providers in the network, and usually have specific guidelines regarding the selection of providers and formal procedures that must be followed. There are three different types of managed care plans, which are HMOs or Health Maintenance Organization, Preferred Provider Organizations or PPOs, and Point of Service or POS.

The cost of life insurance has fallen over the past few years and there’s now more choice than ever, at prices that won’t break the bank.

If you have a family you could provide security for them by taking out adequate life insurance cover. In the tragic event of your death they would have enough to cope with, without added financial worries.

There are various types of life insurance and here we cover the types of term policies on offer.

· A level term policy pays a one off cash payment on death. The amount insured stays the same throughout the period of cover.

· An increasing term policy is another term for indexed insurance. The value of the final payout rises in line with inflation. Depending on the terms of the policy, premiums may also rise accordingly.

· A decreasing term policy is designed around the fact that the amount payable on death will reduce through the term of the insurance, right down to a nil balance at the end of the term.

The policies are often used to safeguard loans and mortgages. The policies above each have their own merits, depending on the type of mortgage you are guaranteeing.

The level term policies are often purchased to cover interest only mortgages, where the capital borrowed does not reduce over the years. The capital sum, remaining the same as the original, is covered by the cash payment on death.

Increasing term policies offer the protection against inflation, but are correspondingly more expensive.

Decreasing term policies are often used for repayment mortgages, where the capital amount owing decreases over the term of the mortgage. Premiums will be lower for this type of policy, compared to level term insurance.

Benefits from term policies can be paid out in two ways. The first is via a lump sum payment and the second is via a “family income benefit”. As far as the second method is concerned, your family would be provided with an agreed annual income for the remaining term of the policy. The cost of policies will be affected by the choice of how the payment is to be made. The insurance company will potentially pay out less money overall if the insured person lives until the later years of the insurance term. Because of this the cost of family income policies will be lower.

So far we have talked about covering mortgage and loan payments. Whilst this would certainly be a weight off the minds of your family, further cover should obviously be considered. When working out just how much money your family would need, should the unexpected happen, it is recommended for an average and typical family, each parent should have at least £150,000 worth of insurance per child, plus any death-in-service benefits, which are often linked with your employment. If you choose to take the family income benefit, then it is thought that you should plan for an income of between £20,000 to £25,000 per child per year.

Another type of life insurance is known as whole of life. This pays a guaranteed amount, known as the sum assured, on the death of the policyholder. There is no specified term on this type of insurance.

It is possible to purchase life insurance with your pension fund. If you choose this method of purchase, you will be allowed tax relief on the premiums, so a higher rate taxpayer will get £100 worth of life insurance for just £60. However, due to higher administration costs, premiums will be likely to be higher and it is felt that this could cancel out any gain to basic-rate taxpayers.

Rather than opt for a joint policy, it’s better for couples to take out individual cover. A joint policy pays out once, on the death of the first partner, whereas the individual policies will pay out twice.

Get on to your broker - you’ll find one easily if you log on to the internet - and find out the costs of protecting your family. It’s worth it for your peace of mind.