NY State Senate Bill 2021-S5895

Senate Bill S5895

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to prohibiting insurance companies from requiring individuals to disclose if such individual has been diagnosed with an HIV infection prior to issuing life insurance

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Insurance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to insurance
Mar 22, 2021	referred to insurance

2021-S5895 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Insurance
Law Section:: Insurance Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§4224 & 2611, Ins L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: S7992
2023-2024: S7951

2021-S5895 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to prohibiting insurance companies from requiring an individual to disclose if such individual has been diagnosed with an HIV infection or HIV-related illness or require such individual to submit to an HIV-related test prior to issuing or renewing a life insurance policy for such individual.

2021-S5895 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5895

SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the insurance law, in relation to prohibiting insurance
companies from requiring individuals to disclose if such individual has
been diagnosed with an HIV infection prior to issuing life insurance

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To amend insurance law to prohibit life insurance companies from requir-
ing applicants to disclose whether they have been diagnosed with HIV
prior to being issued life insurance.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends section 4224 of the insurance law to prohibit life
insurance companies from requiring an individual to disclose if they
have been diagnosed with an HIV infection or an HIV related illness, or
from requiring them to take an HIV-related test prior to issuing or

renewing a life insurance policy of a person. This provision also gives
a precise definition of HIV and HIV-related test.

Section 2 adds provision (c-1) stipulating that no insurer shall request
or require applicants to be the subject of an HIV-related test prior to
being issued coverage.

Section 3 relates to the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

HIV does not pose the same serious health risks that it once did, and
New Yorkers should not have to worry about being denied coverage for
merely being HIV-positive. Medical advancements have made it possible
for people who are diagnosed with the virus to live much longer lives,
and the AIDS condition is now widely considered a manageable chronic
disease. Yet, despite this progress, life insurance companies continue
to restrict - or flat out deny coverage to applicants who are HIV-posi-
tive. They are often barred from enrolling into most conventional life
insurance policies like term or whole life plans, and those who do find
coverage typically pay three to five times more in premiums for skimpier
plans. Most egregiously, life insurance companies have even rejected
coverage to certain applicants for simply disclosing that they take
HIV-preventive drugs like Truvada, thus punishing them for taking
responsible precautions.

The HIV-related questions posed on life insurance forms only serve to
trap people who have HIV - or those who are merely suspected of getting
HIV, like members of the LGBTQ+ community - into subpar plans that
cannot sufficiently cover the needs of their families. The financial
security of their spouses and children are put most at risk when appli-
cants who disclose their diagnosis must settle for severely limited
plans like burialò insurance. New Yorkers who are HIV-positive simply
want to ensure their loved ones are protected, and they should have just
as much access to good life insurance plans as everyone else. Thus, this
bill seeks to treat people who are HIV-positive with dignity and open up
their coverage options by eliminating disruptive HIV-related questions
from life insurance applications. Applicants would not be required to
disclose their diagnosis, nor would they have to submit to an HIV test
in order to prove eligibility. Removing the questions would provide
these New Yorkers and their families with peace of mind as they search
for life insurance. It would also, more broadly, bring us one step clos-
er to erasing the pervasive stigma of HIV/AIDS.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-20: S7992- Referred to Insurance

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Ninetieth day after it shall have become a law

2021-S5895 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5895
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 22, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance
 
 AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to prohibiting  insurance
   companies  from  requiring  individuals to disclose if such individual
   has been diagnosed with an HIV infection prior to issuing life  insur-
   ance

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraphs 2 and 3 of subsection (a) of section 4224 of the
 insurance law, paragraph 2 as amended by chapter 713 of the laws of 1994
 and paragraph 3 as amended by chapter  13  of  the  laws  of  2002,  are
 amended and a new paragraph 4 is added to read as follows:
   (2)  refuse  to  insure,  refuse  to  continue  to insure or limit the
 amount, extent or kind of coverage available to an individual, or charge
 a different rate for the same coverage solely because of the physical or
 mental disability, impairment or disease, or prior history  thereof,  of
 the  insured  or potential insured, except where the refusal, limitation
 or rate differential is permitted by law or regulation and is  based  on
 sound  actuarial principles or is related to actual or reasonably antic-
 ipated experience, in which case the insurer[, subject  to  the  limita-
 tions  contained  in section twenty-six hundred eleven of this chapter,]
 shall notify the insured or potential insured of the right  to  receive,
 or  to  designate a medical professional to receive, the specific reason
 or reasons for such refusal, limitation or rate differential;
   (3) knowingly permit, and no agent thereof and no  licensed  insurance
 broker  shall  offer  to  make  or make, any policy of life insurance or
 annuity contract or agreement as to such policy or contract  other  than
 as plainly expressed in the policy or contract[.];
   (4)  REQUIRE  AN  INDIVIDUAL  TO  DISCLOSE IF SUCH INDIVIDUAL HAS BEEN
 DIAGNOSED WITH AN HIV INFECTION OR HIV-RELATED ILLNESS OR  REQUIRE  SUCH
 INDIVIDUAL  TO  SUBMIT TO AN HIV-RELATED TEST, PURSUANT TO SECTION TWEN-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD10266-01-1

 S. 5895                             2
 
 TY-SIX HUNDRED ELEVEN OF THIS CHAPTER, PRIOR TO ISSUING  OR  RENEWING  A
 LIFE  INSURANCE  POLICY  FOR SUCH INDIVIDUAL. AS USED IN THIS PARAGRAPH,
 THE  FOLLOWING  TERMS  SHALL  HAVE  THE  FOLLOWING  MEANINGS:  (I)  "HIV
 INFECTION" SHALL MEAN AN INFECTION WITH THE HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS
 OR  ANY  OTHER RELATED VIRUS IDENTIFIED AS A PROBABLE CAUSATIVE AGENT OF
 AIDS, (II) "HIV-RELATED TEST" SHALL MEAN ANY LABORATORY TEST  OR  SERIES
 OF  TESTS FOR ANY VIRUS, ANTIBODY, ANTIGEN OR ETIOLOGIC AGENT WHATSOEVER
 THOUGHT TO CAUSE OR TO INDICATE THE PRESENCE OF AIDS, AND  (III)  "AIDS"
 SHALL  MEAN  AN  ACQUIRED  IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME, AS MAY BE DEFINED
 FROM TIME TO TIME BY THE CENTERS  FOR  DISEASE  CONTROL  OF  THE  UNITED
 STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE.
   §  2.  Section  2611  of  the insurance law is amended by adding a new
 subsection (c-1) to read as follows:
   (C-1) NO INSURER OR ITS DESIGNEE SHALL REQUEST OR REQUIRE AN  INDIVID-
 UAL PROPOSED FOR LIFE INSURANCE COVERAGE TO BE THE SUBJECT OF AN HIV-RE-
 LATED TEST PRIOR TO ISSUING OR RENEWING A LIFE INSURANCE POLICY FOR SUCH
 INDIVIDUAL.
   §  3.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.

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