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Saga comment: 'Saga supports measures that will improve the lives of older people'
Saga welcomes in principle this week's Government paper which promises to put an end to age discrimination
We always support measures that seek to improve the lives of older people.
Most people who write to Saga Magazine complain about access to heathcare and how they are kept informed about treatment; they also experience discrimination in access to training and job opportunities where many employers overlook the value older workers have to offer.
In particular, many complain about the legalised discrimination that allows employers to force people to retire, even when the individual concerned wants to and is able to continue to work.
As for services such as insurance - Saga, along with some other insurers, does not have any upper age limits. Indeed, the oldest person we have provided travel insurance to went to Italy to celebrate her 100th birthday.
There are insurance companies like Saga that want to serve the needs of the older traveller or motorist. The problem for the customer is one of knowing where to go to get proper cover if your general insurers can't help.
We think it is wrong for insurance companies simply to refuse because of someone's age, but we can understand why they might want to do so as it is a very specialist area. Compulsion to provide cover from non-specialists will simply lead to high prices.
Instead insurers ought to be required to direct them to an independent source of information so the customer can easily find a provider that better understands their needs and will provide cover, because of their specialism.
