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Life insurance for people living in Ireland with HIV or Hepatitis C is about to become easier as a new government scheme is announced, reports the Evening Echo.

The government is to provide life insurance, mortgage protection and travel insurance to people who contracted HIV or hepatitis C through contaminated blood products.

Health minister Mary Harney said the programme acknowledges the "inability of these people to buy life [insurance] or mortgage protection policies added further problems to the damage they had already suffered".

It is an "important measure to provide further support" to people who acquired HIV or other infectious diseases through contaminated blood products, she added.

A programme administrator, John Dwyer, told the Irish Examiner this will have a "very positive impact on the lives of those" living with HIV or hepatitis C.

"This in effect means that they and their families will now have greater security and peace of mind into the future," he added.

Positive Action, a group that represents women who acquired HIV or hepatitis C though blood transfusions, hopes this will encourage other insurance companies to offer policies.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Life Insurance.