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February 12, 2020 at 05:59 PM
California may put new restrictions on the ability of life insurers and disability insurers to use HIV tests in underwriting.
California state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, Calif., has introduced a bill, Senate Bill 961, that could forbid insurers from rejecting life and disability applicants solely because they have antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.
Resources
- A link to the California Senate Bill 961 tracking page is available here.
An insurer could require an applicant to undergo HIV testing, at the insurer’s expense, if the insurer obtained the applicant’s informed consent, and informed the applicant, or the applicant’s physician, of a positive test result.
An insurer could, apparently, use HIV test results along with other information in underwriting.
S.B. 961 would also revamp the list of definitions used in California’s HIV testing statute and eliminate references to specific types of tests, such as the ELISA test and the Western blot assay test.
One provision would appear to prohibit an insurer from sharing the results of applicant HIV tests with other insurers, or with insurance support organizations.
