New Bill Makes California First In Nation To Require Coverage For HIV Screening

California is now the first state in the nation to require every health care service plan and health insurer to provide coverage for HIV testing, regardless of whether the testing is related to a primary diagnosis. California now becomes the first state to provide routine HIV screening to all patients whether they are showing symptoms or not.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the landmark legislation on Tuesday.

The Governor noted that preventing the spread of the infection made for a healthier California, and the cost-effectiveness of providing coverage for testing compared to the cost of lifelong treatment for someone who contracts the virus from someone who does not know their status.

According to the California Office of AIDS, approximately 40,000 people in California who are infected with HIV are unaware they have the disease. The lack of routine HIV screening results in a lack of treatment to tens of thousands of people who need it, and puts many more people at risk of infection.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta has also reported that only 40 percent of the U.S. population had ever received an HIV test, and that at least a quarter of the estimated one million people in the U.S. living with the virus are unaware of their HIV-positive status. The CDC recommends that 'opt-out' HIV screening become a part of routine clinical care in all health care settings for every person ages 13 to 65.

Ironically, funding for HIV education and prevention programs in California were cut by $7 million in the most recent budget signed by the California legislator and signed by the governor on Tuesday.