Class Action Says Prudential Illegally Requests Prospective Policyholders’ Family Medical Histories
Thompson v. The Prudential Insurance Company of America et al.
Filed: December 11, 2023 ◆§ 3:23-cv-03904
A class action alleges Prudential unlawfully requires prospective policyholders in Illinois to disclose their family medical histories to assess their eligibility for life insurance coverage.
Illinois
A proposed class action alleges the Prudential Insurance Company of America and subsidiary Pruco Life Insurance Company unlawfully require prospective policyholders in Illinois to disclose their family medical histories to assess their eligibility for life insurance coverage.
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The 12-page case claims that Prudential, one of the nation’s largest life insurance companies, has violated the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) by using residents’ genetic data—including their family medical histories—to make underwriting decisions.
Enacted in 1998, the GIPA is designed to protect individuals from having this form of “uniquely private and sensitive” information used for discriminatory purposes, “one of the most harmful of which would occur in the context of insurance,” the lawsuit says.
Despite the GIPA’s clear mandates, Prudential requires potential customers to undergo a physical exam, requests that they reveal details about diseases or disorders with which their family members have been diagnosed and then analyzes this information as part of its underwriting process, the filing contends.
The plaintiff, an Illinois resident who applied for life insurance coverage offered by the defendants in May 2023, says that at Prudential’s required physical, she answered questions about whether her family members had histories of high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other medical conditions.
“[The defendants] then used this genetic information to assess [the plaintiff’s] eligibility for life insurance coverage, and denied [the plaintiff] her life insurance coverage,” the complaint alleges.
The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who, during the applicable statute of limitations period, applied for insurance coverage with the Prudential Insurance Company of America or Pruco Life Insurance Company in Illinois and from whom the companies, or an agent acting on their behalf, have requested and/or obtained family medical history or other genetic information according to their records.
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