The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has challenged the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) over its “intrusive reform of some aspects of the general insurance industry, including commercial matters such as design and redesign of policies”.

In a written response to an ALRC discussion paper on age barriers to work in Commonwealth laws, ICA CEO Robert Whelan says insurers already cater for the needs of older people.

He says the discussion paper contains “a serious misunderstanding” on the operation of travel insurance and, contrary to the ALRC suggestion, the exclusion of pre-existing medical conditions from such policies does not automatically preclude cover for luggage and personal effects.

ICA also questions the paper’s call for a special insurance information portal for seniors, saying its findaninsurer.com.au website fulfils this need.

Mr Whelan also challenges the idea seniors have problems shopping around for insurance.

He cites a National Seniors Australia/Council on the Ageing survey that shows 69% of respondents shop around for travel cover, and many who do not instead use their credit card travel insurance or follow the recommendation of their travel agent.

ICA rejects proposals to monitor insurers’ treatment of seniors through measures such as quarterly publications outlining their claims experience. This would involve releasing sensitive underwriting data when there is no evidence of a regulatory or market problem, the response says.

While it may be appropriate to include some broad equity-of-access principles in the General Insurance Code of Practice, ICA says the code is not the place for detailed anti-discrimination measures.

It cautions against measures modelled on the Sex Discrimination Act that demand the provision of data to complainants, because insurance data may be difficult to interpret and commercially sensitive.