On the Potential Insurability of HIV

For the past two years, a group of medical directors representing a wide variety of companies with a concentration in life insurance has reviewed literature pertinent to the mortality studies on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and has had discussions with experts in the field. We did so as a result of our commitment to studying this disease process with an eye toward applying our findings to enhance individual companies' analysis of the potential insurability of people currently living with HIV. This is something that to our knowledge has not been done in a similar form in this country in the recent past. Through this process, we discovered many interesting facts that we thought all active medical directors should know. And, I think it is likely that the differing risk appetites of life insurers is such that a large number of individuals living with HIV might be found to be insurable for coverage at this time. In this brief paper, I hope to refresh your memories of the virus responsible for HIV, review its current epidemiology and give some historical perspective to the virus, its treatment, and life insurers' responses to this infection.