NY State Senate Bill 2025-S6031

Senate Bill S6031

2025-2026 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

download bill text pdf

Current 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

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 04, 2025	referred to insurance

2025-S6031 (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
2021-2022: S5895
2023-2024: S7951

2025-S6031 (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.

2025-S6031 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6031

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 HlV7pcsitive 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:

2023-24: S7951- Referred to Insurance

2021-22: S5895 - Referred to Insurance

2019-20: S7992 - Referred to Insurance

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law

2025-S6031 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6031
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 4, 2025
                                ___________
 
 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 4 of subsection (a) of section 4224 of the
 insurance law, paragraph 2 as amended by chapter 713 of the laws of 1994
 and paragraph 4 as amended by chapter 13 of the  laws  of  2002  and  as
 renumbered  by  chapter  126  of the laws of 2024, are amended and a new
 paragraph 5 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;
   (4)  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[.];
   (5) REQUIRE AN INDIVIDUAL TO DISCLOSE  IF  SUCH  INDIVIDUAL  HAS  BEEN
 DIAGNOSED  WITH  AN HIV INFECTION OR HIV-RELATED ILLNESS OR REQUIRE SUCH
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10640-01-5

 S. 6031                             2
 
 INDIVIDUAL TO SUBMIT TO AN HIV-RELATED TEST, PURSUANT TO  SECTION  TWEN-
 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.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.