RI 2026 H7861: Insurance - Life Insurance Policies and Reserves

Plain-English Summary

This legislation prohibits life, disability, and long-term care insurance companies from using genetic testing information to deny coverage, cancel policies, or set different premium rates. It prevents these insurers from requesting genetic test results or using the fact that an individual sought testing against them. However, the bill clarifies that insurers are still allowed to review medical records for actual clinical diagnoses or signs of disease, and they may still ask applicants questions regarding their family health history.

For younger readers

Doctors can use special tests to look at a person's genes, which are like instructions inside our bodies, to see if they might get sick in the future. Sometimes people are scared to take these tests because they worry insurance companies will treat them unfairly. This new rule says that companies selling life insurance or disability insurance cannot use those test results to say "no" to a customer or charge them more money. It helps people feel safe getting the tests they need to stay healthy without being punished for it.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups

Life insurance providersDisability insurance providersLong-term care insurance providersIndividuals seeking genetic testingPeople with hereditary health risks

Impacted communities

All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost

None

Estimated revenue

None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints

For Progressives

Protects individuals from corporate discrimination based on their genetic makeup, ensuring that people are not penalized for biological factors entirely outside of their control.
Encourages proactive healthcare and preventative medicine by removing the fear that seeking genetic testing will result in the loss of financial security or insurance coverage.
Checkmates the ability of profit-driven insurance entities to invade personal privacy and weaponize medical data to deny services to vulnerable populations.
Allows insurers to continue asking about family health history, which is a loophole that still permits discrimination based on hereditary factors and family background.
Fails to challenge the underlying for-profit insurance model, offering a regulatory patch rather than the systemic reform of guaranteed universal coverage for long-term care and disability.
Does not protect individuals who have already received a clinical diagnosis, leaving those who have already manifested a genetic disease vulnerable to denial of coverage.

For Conservatives

Protects the private medical information of citizens from being harvested and utilized by large corporate entities, upholding individual privacy rights.
Encourages personal responsibility by allowing individuals to seek medical knowledge about their own health without fear of financial retribution.
Establishes clear legal boundaries for contract law regarding what data is admissible, providing certainty to the marketplace.
Interferes with the free market by dictating how private businesses assess risk, potentially forcing companies to insure bad risks against their will.
Will likely cause insurance premiums to rise for the general population, as companies must spread the cost of unknown high-risk clients across all policyholders.
Represents government overreach into private contracts between a business and a consumer, violating the principle of corporate freedom.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 46 additions

SECTION 1. Legislative findings. The Legislature hereby finds that:

(1) Recent advances in genetic science have led to improvements in the diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of a significant number of human diseases;

(2) Genetic testing can help individuals take steps to avoid disease entirely or identify disease earlier, maximizing an individual's health and lifespan and reducing health care costs for patients, families, and communities in the long term;

(3) Concerns about ability to access insurance create a disincentive from seeking genetic testing for some individuals, preventing the full realization of opportunity for genetic testing;

(4) The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, 29 U.S.C. 1182, prohibits genetic information from being used as a condition of eligibility, to set premium rates, or impose preexisting condition exclusions for health insurance;

(5) The intent of section 2 of this act is to reduce barriers to the benefits of genetic testing by protecting genetic information from being used to impact access to life insurance, group disability insurance, or long-term care insurance coverage.

SECTION 2. Chapter 27-4 of the General Laws entitled "Life Insurance Policies and Reserves" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 27-4-4.1. Use of genetic testing information prohibited.

(a) In the absence of clinical diagnosis of a condition, or manifestation of a disease, life insurers, disability insurers, and long-term care insurers shall not:

(1) Cancel, limit, or deny coverage, or establish differentials in premium rates based on genetic information collected, used, or stored for healthcare treatment; or

(2) Require or solicit genetic information, use genetic test results, or consider an individual's decision or action relating to genetic testing in any manner or for any purpose related to life insurance, disability insurance, or long-term care insurance.

(b) For purposes of this section, the term “manifestation of a disease” means the outward signs, symptoms, or physical evidence that a disease is present.

(1) Prevent life insurers, disability insurers, and long-term care insurers from reviewing an individual's medical record as part of an application;

(2) Prohibit requiring an applicant for insurance coverage to answer questions regarding family health history; or

(3) Prohibit a life insurer, disability insurer, or long-term care insurer from considering a clinical diagnosis or manifestation of a disease included in an individual's medical record for insurance purposes.

(d) For the purposes of this section:

(1) "Genetic information" has the same meaning as defined in § 27-18-52.1(c); and

(2) "Genetic test" has the same meaning as defined in section § 27-18-52(c).

SECTION 3. Chapter 27-34.2 of the General Laws entitled "Long-Term Care Insurance" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 27-34.2-5.1. Use of genetic testing information prohibited.

(a) In the absence of clinical diagnosis of a condition, or manifestation of a disease, life insurers, disability insurers providing disability income protection coverage, and long-term care insurers shall not:

(1) Cancel, limit, or deny coverage, or establish differentials in premium rates based on genetic information collected, used, or stored for healthcare treatment; or

(b) For purposes of this section, the term “manifestation of a disease” means the outward signs, symptoms, or physical evidence that a disease is present.

(1) Prevent life insurers, disability insurers providing disability income protection coverage, and long-term care insurers from reviewing an individual's medical record as part of an application;

(2) Prohibit requiring an applicant for insurance coverage to answer questions regarding family health history; or

(3) Prohibit a life insurer, disability insurer providing disability income protection coverage, or long-term care insurer from considering a clinical diagnosis or manifestation of a disease included in an individual's medical record for insurance purposes.

(d) For the purposes of this section:

(1) "Disability income protection coverage" means a policy with benefits limited to income protection or the provision of income when an insured is unable to work due to injury or illness;

(2) "Genetic information" has the same meaning as defined in § 27-18-52.1(c); and

(3) "Genetic test" has the same meaning as defined in section § 27-18-52(c).

SECTION 4. The title of Chapter 27-34.2 of the General Laws entitled "Long-Term Care Insurance" is hereby amended to read as follows:

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon passage.