Nedbank Insurance continues to cover people living with HIV

The lack of appropriate life insurance cover for people living with HIV has placed an additional strain on people trying to lead a normal life. While being HIV-positive remains a serious health issue for large numbers of South Africans, significant stride

Although life insurance cover has been available for some time from specialist insurers, clients have had to purchase an HIV-specific policy, which often perpetuated the stigmatisation. Nedbank Insurance has led the way by offering a mainstream approach to the provision of cover for HIV positive individuals whose other vital signs are good and who are actively pursuing healthy lifestyles. What this means is that an HIV-positive person is covered under 360Life – our standard fully underwritten product, which is generally available to the public and provides life, disability and critical illness cover. This means that we are treating HIV as an impairment just as we do diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.

Access to traditional, fully underwritten life insurance products is now a reality for a previously disenfranchised market thanks to Nedbank Insurance’s 360Life. Importantly, the innovative Nedbank Insurance model means that HIV-positive individuals seeking life insurance cover will not be discriminated against for their HIV status, provided it is managed in a responsible manner.

Over the past 15 years the treatment and management of HIV have advanced in leaps and bounds. Increasingly, through proactive and responsible behaviour, lifestyles and treatment regimes, HIV-positive individuals have been able to live largely normal lives.

The Nedbank Insurance philosophy is simple: if HIV-positive individuals take full ownership and responsibility for their lives within a proper health and wellness framework, life insurance is available to them. This is the way it should be.

This is excellent news for HIV-positive individuals and their families, enabling them to plan for the future just like anyone else. In fact, this liberating approach will enable HIV-positive individuals to secure finance, for example for the purchase of a home or vehicle, which may have previously been declined because of a lack of life insurance protection.

The bottom line is that life insurance has finally caught up with the impressive advances that have been made in the management of HIV, meeting the needs of members of society who wish to access cover for themselves and their families.