California Insurance Code 799.03 – (a) A life or disability income insurer shall not require a test …
(a) A life or disability income insurer shall not require a test for HIV or for the presence of antibodies to HIV for the purpose of determining insurability other than pursuant to the informed consent, counseling, and privacy protection provisions of this article and Article 6.6 (commencing with Section 791). Notwithstanding any other law, this constitutes the exclusive requirements for counseling, informed consent, and privacy protection for that testing.
(b) A life or disability income insurer that asks an applicant to undergo an HIV test shall obtain the applicant’s written informed consent for the test. Written informed consent shall include a description of the test to be performed, including its purpose, potential uses, and limitations, the meaning of its results, procedures for notifying the applicant of the results, and the right to confidential treatment of the results. Before the applicant signs the consent, the insurer shall provide the applicant with both of the following, on paper or electronically, whichever the applicant chooses:
Terms Used In California Insurance Code 799.03
- County: includes "city and county. See California Insurance Code 14
- HIV test: means any clinical test, laboratory or otherwise, used to identify HIV, a component of HIV, or antibodies or antigens to HIV. See California Insurance Code 799.01
- Life or disability income insurer: means an insurer licensed to transact life insurance or disability insurance in this state that is transacting life insurance or disability income insurance in this state, or a fraternal benefit society licensed in this state that is transacting life insurance or disability income insurance in this state. See California Insurance Code 799.01
- Person: means any person, association, organization, partnership, business trust, limited liability company, or corporation. See California Insurance Code 19
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Insurance Code 28
(1) Material describing HIV, its causes and symptoms, the manner in which it is spread, the test or tests used to detect HIV or the HIV antibody, and what a person can do whose test results are positive or negative.
(2) A list of counseling resources available, where the applicant can obtain assistance in understanding the meaning of the test and its results. The list shall be provided from publicly available information or internet websites, and shall include resources available from the State Department of Public Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(c) The life or disability income insurer that asks an applicant to undergo an HIV test shall notify an applicant of a positive test result by notifying the applicant’s designated physician. If the applicant tested has not given written consent authorizing a physician to receive the test results, the applicant shall be urged, at the time the applicant is informed of the positive test results, to contact a private physician, the county department of health, the State Department of Public Health, local medical societies, or alternative test sites for appropriate counseling.
(Amended (as added by Stats. 2020, Ch. 184, Sec. 3) by Stats. 2021, Ch. 134, Sec. 1. (SB 283) Effective January 1, 2022.)