HC Deb 26 July 1955 vol 544 c120W
118. Mr. Sparks

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to prohibit the growing practice of some insurance companies who, without requiring medical evidence, insure the lives of old-age pensioners who, at the time, were suffering from diseases which invalidate the claims at death.

Mr. R. A. Butler

No. As far as industrial assurance policies are concerned there is nothing new in the practice of insuring without medical examination. The Industrial Assurance and Friendly Societies Act, 1948, provides that a company or society cannot repudiate liability on health grounds in the case of a policy issued after 30th June, 1948, unless the proposer made an untrue statement or withheld information on some health matter within his knowledge.