Can an insurance company use the fact that I had an HIV test as the basis for increasing my premiums?

I heard through the grapevine that someone from GB was in the U.S. and had a mandatory HIV test. My understanding is that subsequent to the test (and independent of the result - the test was negative) his health insurance premiums went up. In effect, the individual believes that the fact of having had an HIV test increased his premiums - e.g. as the test may have been a risk factor indicator to the insurance company. I am wondering if it is legal in the U.S. to use the simple fact of having had an HIV test as the basis for risk determination and adjustment of health insurance premiums. Thanks for your insights!

There are lots of conflicting responses here. <<shakes head in disbelief>>

The answer is NO. Nowadays, an HIV test is considered part of a normal workup for sexually active adults. A health insurer CANNOT raise a person's premium simply because of such an innocuous test.

Secondly, while this may be an individual policy (instead of a group policy), individual policies do not receive individual rate increases. In other words, your friend's insurer calculates premiums based on the claims losses from ALL insureds having the same policy that your friend does -- so he was not the only one whose premium increased. Generally, premiums can only be individually increased due to a person transitioning into a higher "age bracket."

If your friend wants to confirm the reason(s) why his premium increased, he can file a complaint with his state's insurance commissioner's office, which will investigate.

One final thought: insurers CANNOT do whatever they want to do, as some folks wrote above. They must abide by the insurance laws of the states where they sell policies. Actually, insurers are highly regulated.

They think your a whore so then you will get AIDS and die soon.

the simple fact??? if you have HIV, you're pretty much guaranteed you'll cost the insurance company a lot more than the average worker for meds, hospitalization, etc.

Robert,
No they can not increase your premium solely based on the fact that you had an HIV test. I can tell you that most companies when you sign on for them will automatically run an HIV test or at least the companies I represent do. However read over you policy. Is this for a health insurance or a life insurance policy?

This is a great question for a lawyer which I am not but I am going to take a shot at it. I think the insurance companies pretty much do whatever they want but they will never tell you the real reason. I believe to increase your rates because you had an aids test done,or even if you have aids is basis for discrimination. I believe there was a law passed on this years back because so many people who had aids were being discriminated against. Now if you already have a health care policy in place I don't believe they can raise your rates for this, however, if you have aids and try to get a policy it will be really difficult and very expensive. But they will never come right out and tell you that because some laws may be broken and they are opening up themselves up for a lawsuit.

No. HIV testing is a pretty common occurrence - any time you're planning on surgery or a bloody situation (like childbirth), the HIV testing is part of the pre-event testing.

This guy was in the UK (Great Brittain? Or is that Green Bay?). Their system is imploding. I'm not surprised they're raising premiums.

Most definitely the results of an HIV test could affect a person's medical insurance rates. Think about it - someone who is ill, or with the potential to become ill, is a high claim risk. An insurance company has to look toward the future and evaluate what the cost of claims MIGHT be. They are definitely within their rights to adjust a person's rates based upon medical findings. And not just for AIDS, but for any other condition that could potentially produce high dollar claims.

They will raise your rates for any reason they may have. However, you won't be told the actual reason.

Yes it is! They pretty much do what they want!