Representing a milestone in the changing nature of the HIV infection, people living with HIV may now be eligible to obtain life insurance products
World AIDS day took place this week, with global calls to act with urgency to implement the latest high-impact, evidence-based HIV prevention strategies. There is also evidence of innovation in the insurance sector as well, with one leading carrier breaking new ground with the introduction of life insurance products for HIV patients.
Prudential Financial teamed up with and ÆQUALIS, an innovative company bringing insurance products to under-served communities, to make life insurance coverage available to people who are living with HIV, provided they meet the underwriting qualifications.
Representing a milestone in the changing nature of the HIV infection, people living with HIV may now be eligible to obtain ten and 15-year individual convertible term life insurance products, offered through Prudential’s issuing insurance companies.
“As medical technology advances, we continuously evaluate and update our underwriting criteria, which has resulted in our ability to offer insurance to people dealing with various medical or chronic conditions,” said Mike McFarland, chief underwriting officer, Prudential Individual Life Insurance. “With advances in the successful treatment of people with HIV, we are now able to offer this population the opportunity to apply for life insurance – a milestone we see as a significant step in the right direction.”
ÆQUALIS is providing consumers with direct access to information about the insurance products that are available and managing the process of applying for a policy. They are also working with financial professionals and other major insurance agencies and distributors to raise awareness and manage the application process.
Other insurers may be looking at the market too. Deana Allen, senior vice president of the Willis National Health Care Practice, based in Atlanta, said that 34 years after AIDS first hit the headlines, we are getting closer than ever to realizing the potential to one day end AIDS.
“Back in the 1980’s I worked in health care when we first began treating a growing number of patients with a combination of symptoms we had never experienced before – eventually they would receive a diagnose which was named AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome),” Allen wrote in a blog post this week.
Significant progress has been made since those early days but an estimated 36.9 million people are still living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, although new HIV infections have fallen 35% since 2000. Around 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the United States, and one in eight don’t know it.
Ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 is one objective of Sustainable Development Goals announced by the US in September, while the UN has launched a campaign to rapidly scale-up HIV prevention and treatment, aiming to reduce AIDS-related deaths by 21 million in low- and middle-income countries by 2030.
Allen acknowledges that the targets are ambitious and will be challenging for stakeholders across all sectors of our society including, state and governments, local health departments, hospitals and health care providers, by working together on national and world wide goals we can advance toward the goal of an AIDS-free generation.
Prudential Financial teamed up with and ÆQUALIS, an innovative company bringing insurance products to under-served communities, to make life insurance coverage available to people who are living with HIV, provided they meet the underwriting qualifications.
Representing a milestone in the changing nature of the HIV infection, people living with HIV may now be eligible to obtain ten and 15-year individual convertible term life insurance products, offered through Prudential’s issuing insurance companies.
“As medical technology advances, we continuously evaluate and update our underwriting criteria, which has resulted in our ability to offer insurance to people dealing with various medical or chronic conditions,” said Mike McFarland, chief underwriting officer, Prudential Individual Life Insurance. “With advances in the successful treatment of people with HIV, we are now able to offer this population the opportunity to apply for life insurance – a milestone we see as a significant step in the right direction.”
ÆQUALIS is providing consumers with direct access to information about the insurance products that are available and managing the process of applying for a policy. They are also working with financial professionals and other major insurance agencies and distributors to raise awareness and manage the application process.
Other insurers may be looking at the market too. Deana Allen, senior vice president of the Willis National Health Care Practice, based in Atlanta, said that 34 years after AIDS first hit the headlines, we are getting closer than ever to realizing the potential to one day end AIDS.
“Back in the 1980’s I worked in health care when we first began treating a growing number of patients with a combination of symptoms we had never experienced before – eventually they would receive a diagnose which was named AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome),” Allen wrote in a blog post this week.
Significant progress has been made since those early days but an estimated 36.9 million people are still living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, although new HIV infections have fallen 35% since 2000. Around 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the United States, and one in eight don’t know it.
Ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 is one objective of Sustainable Development Goals announced by the US in September, while the UN has launched a campaign to rapidly scale-up HIV prevention and treatment, aiming to reduce AIDS-related deaths by 21 million in low- and middle-income countries by 2030.
Allen acknowledges that the targets are ambitious and will be challenging for stakeholders across all sectors of our society including, state and governments, local health departments, hospitals and health care providers, by working together on national and world wide goals we can advance toward the goal of an AIDS-free generation.
