BILL NUMBER: AB 1553	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Yamada
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Brown)

                        JANUARY 27, 2014

   An act to add Section 10232.98 to the Insurance Code, relating to
insurance.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1553, as introduced, Yamada. Long-term care insurance: premium
basis.
   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 term "sex" would
be defined for these purposes to mean a person's gender, gender
identity, and gender expression, as defined.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 10232.98 is added to the Insurance Code, to
read:
   10232.98.  (a) A long-term care insurance policy issued, amended,
or renewed on or after January 1, 2015, shall not be subject to
premium, price, or charge differentials because of the sex of any
contracting party, potential contracting party, or person reasonably
expected to benefit from the policy as a policyholder, insured, or
otherwise.
   (b) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
following meanings.
   (1) "Sex" means a person's gender, and includes a person's gender
identity and gender expression.
   (2) "Gender expression" means a person's gender-related appearance
and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the
person's assigned sex at birth.