New Zealand’s Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman wants a review of insurance regulations regarding unintentional non-disclosure.

Karen Stevens says the laws hurt consumers who leave out past information such as claims history or pre-existing medical conditions because they don’t think it is important, or have forgotten.

“A review of the law on non-disclosure is long overdue,” she says in a statement. “Legislation to bring us more in line with Australian and UK law would help protect these consumers who unintentionally leave out information.

“While some cases are clear, and people have deliberately failed to provide information they were asked for, in many cases people unintentionally leave out information because they have forgotten, or they do not realise it is so important.”

Ms Stevens cites a number of complaints over the past 22 years involving consumers who have had claims declined or policies voided after information was inadvertently left out.

Pre-existing medical conditions and claims history are among the matters consumers most commonly forget.

“Many consumers don’t understand what that means,” Ms Stevens said. “While insurance policies explicitly state that certain information is required, our real concern… is that consumers don’t appreciate that they need to tell the insurer about everything – not just what they think is relevant.

“Most consumers don’t understand how dire the consequences of non-disclosure can be.”