Great news!A 21-year-old Melbourne woman who challenged an insurer for failing to honour her travel insurance says she hopes her court victory will prevent others being discriminated against for having a mental illness.
Ella Ingram took action against QBE in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in a case that could affect the whole insurance industry. Ms Ingram, who developed depression when she was 17, was refused reimbursement for a 2012 school trip to New York, after she became too mentally ill to travel.
QBE's travel insurance does not cover trip cancellation due to mental illness, even if the mental illness is not a pre-existing condition. In the first ruling of its kind, VCAT member Anne Dea found Ms Ingram's depression was a disability and by refusing to insure her QBE "engaged in direct discrimination".