9 August 2019 - Life insurers have trawled through the medical records of 150,000 Australians in an attempt to deny payout­s in the 18 months since a parliamentary inquiry called for new restrictions on access to person­al health data.

The government has not responde­d to the inquiry’s recom­mendations, which inclu­ded real-time notifications alerting people to when insurers were accessing their records, while legal experts have sounded the alarm on the need for further consumer protections.

They have also warned that a new voluntary industry code of conduct will not stop insurers demanding­ full medical records under the threat of refusal to provid­e cover or stall the processing of a payout.

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