State Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) has introduced legislation to ban discrimination in insurance policies based on HIV status.

Gonzalez discussed her bill, the Equal Insurance HIV Act, at a news conference February 11 at the midtown Sacramento location of One Community Health, formerly known as the Center for AIDS Research, Education and Services, or CARES, located in that city's LGBT Lavender Heights neighborhood. (The bill has not yet been assigned a number.)

"It will require insurance companies treat HIV like any other chronic condition, not as a death sentence," Gonzalez said of her bill.

Gonzalez said her district has more people living with HIV than most in the state. Over 135,000 Californians are living with HIV, according to federal statistics... (Read Full Text)