BILL NUMBER: AB 1553	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 23, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Yamada
   (  Coauthor:   Assembly Member 
 Brown   Coauthors:   Assembly Members
   Brown   and Eggman  )
    (   Coauthors:   Senators 
Jackson,   Leno,   and Mitchell   )


                        JANUARY 27, 2014

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


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1553, as amended, 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 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.
   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
  Long-term care insurance, as defined in Section
10231.2,    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) As a result of the implementation of subdivision (a), insurers
issuing, amending, or renewing long-term care insurance on or after
January 1, 2015, shall not reduce or eliminate benefits or coverage
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) 
    (c)  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.