AB 1553

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law provides that long-term care insurance includes any insurance policy, certificate, or rider advertised, marketed, offered, solicited, or designed to provide coverage for diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, rehabilitative, maintenance, or personal care services that are provided in a setting other than an acute care unit of a hospital. Long-term care insurance includes all products containing any of the following benefit types: coverage for institutional care including care in a nursing home, convalescent facility, extended care facility, custodial care facility, skilled nursing facility, or personal care home; home care coverage including home health care, personal care, homemaker services, hospice, or respite care; or community-based coverage including adult day care, hospice, or respite care. Long-term care insurance includes disability-based long-term care policies but does not include insurance designed primarily to provide Medicare supplement or major medical expense coverage. This bill would prohibit a long-term care insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2015, from charging a different premium, price, or charge based on the sex of the contracting party, potential contracting party, or a person reasonably expected to benefit from the policy. The bill would prohibit insurers issuing, amending, or renewing long-term care insurance policies on or after January 1, 2015, from reducing or eliminating benefits or coverage based on the sex of the contracting party, potential contracting party, or a person reasonably expected to benefit from the policy as a result of implementing these provisions. The term "sex" would be defined for these purposes to mean a person's gender, gender identity, and gender expression, as defined.