A bill that would ban life insurers from discriminating against Australians based on results of genetic testing has been introduced to parliament this week.

If passed into law as expected, the legislation would ban life insurers from taking into account the results of genetic tests that gauge your risk of disease when choosing whether to provide cover and how much to charge for it.

The bill, which was introduced to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, has broad bipartisan support. It follows almost a decade of research, consultation, community pressure and political efforts to end this form of genetic discrimination.

There are many forms of life insurance, including death cover, income protection, trauma, and disability insurance.

Life insurers can legally discriminate based on health and other risk information, including genetic test results showing someone’s future risk of disease. This means they can decline to cover a person altogether, increase the cost of their premiums, or place conditions on their cover.

But our previous research showed fear of insurers discriminating based on their test results deters people from having genetic testing.

Genetic testing to identify the risk of diseases that can be prevented or detected and treated early can save lives. This includes variants in genes such as BRCA1 –

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