ALBANY - New York's banking and insurance regulator is asking life and disability insurers to show actuarial justification for allegedly denying coverage to applicants who used pre-exposure prophylactic medication to reduce the risk of HIV infection.

On Monday, the state Department of Financial Services sent a letter to insurers authorized to write life, disability and long-term care insurance in New York, seeking information on their underwriting guidelines and practices related to HIV prevention medication.

In the letter, the department said it's specifically seeking “information about the company's underwriting guidelines and practices where a consumer applies for life insurance, disability insurance or long-term care insurance and the applicant is engaging in or has engaged in a HIV prevention strategy, such as PrEP,” as well as any actuarial justification or supporting evidence for denying a person's insurance application for using such a drug.

Less than two weeks ago, the DFS said it would investigate insurance companies after a report by The New York Times found that some gay men who had used PrEP—a medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reduce the risk of acquiring the virus that causes AIDS—had been turned down for life and disability insurance policies across the country.

While most health insurers cover PrEP medication, some life, long-term and disability insurers have been denying policies to those who have taken the medication, which some gay rights activists say amounts to discrimination, the publication reported. At least one lawsuit has been filed against an insurer for allegedly denying a gay male applicant long-term care coverage citing PrEP use, the Times said.

Responses to the DFS' inquiry must be submitted on or by March 19, 2018, under penalty of perjury by a senior officer. 

The Life Insurance Council of New York Inc. (LICONY), an industry organization, said its members will comply with DFS' request for information.

“New York's life insurance companies provide millions of people with the financial protection they need to protect their families and are constantly seeking ways to offer new coverage and products to consumers. Additionally, our industry is highly regulated by the state and our companies work very hard to comply with all state laws and regulations. In this highly competitive industry, each company makes its own individual underwriting decisions and that allows consumers to find policies that meet their needs,” LICONY said in an emailed statement to the New York Law Journal.

A spokesman for the Washington-based American Council of Life Insurers, a trade group representing the industry, said in an email that life insurers evaluate the same applicants differently and make different decisions on issuance and pricing.

Spokesman Jack Dolan added that the organization “is not positioned to offer comments to the department” because it represented the insurance industry and it does not hold information on individual companies' underwriting practices.

“In our communications with the DFS, we make clear that America's life insurers are in the business of providing people the financial protection they want and need and seek ways to offer coverage to as many people as possible. Laws in New York, and state laws throughout the country, strictly govern their underwriting practices,” Dolan said.