Bill Text: CA AB1906 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Health care coverage: home test kits.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Passed) 2026-09-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 560, Statutes of 2026. [AB1906 Detail]
Download: California-2025-AB1906-Chaptered.html
Assembly Bill
No. 1906
CHAPTER 560
An act to amend Section 1367.66 of the Health and Safety Code, to amend Section 10123.18 of the Insurance Code, and to amend Section 14132.17 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to health care coverage.
[
Approved by
Governor
September 27, 2026.
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 27, 2026.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1906, Aguiar-Curry.
Health care coverage: home test kits.
(1) Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2002, to provide coverage for an annual cervical cancer screening test upon the referral of the patient’s health care provider.
This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance
policy, except for a vision-only, dental-only, or Medicare supplement contract or policy, issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, to provide coverage without cost sharing for cervical cancer screening, including the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-authorized or cleared self-collected cervical screening kits, when ordered or provided by an in-network provider and consistent with specified recommendations published by the State Department of Public Health. For health savings account-eligible plans or policies, the bill would require the above-described coverage only to the extent the plan is a high deductible health plan under specified federal law. Because a willful violation of the bill’s requirements relative
to health care service plans would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which health care services are provided to low-income individuals pursuant to a schedule of benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. An annual cervical cancer test for screening or diagnostic purposes, upon the referral of a patient’s physician, is a covered benefit under the Medi-Cal program to the extent required or permitted by federal law.
This bill would instead include cervical cancer tests for screening that are ordered by a patient’s health care provider and consistent with specified recommendations published by the State Department of Public Health as a covered benefit under the Medi-Cal program on or after January 1, 2027. The bill would additionally include FDA-authorized or cleared cervical cancer home test kits for screening that are ordered by a patient’s health care provider and consistent with specified recommendations published by the State Department of Public Health and Medi-Cal policies as a covered benefit under the Medi-Cal program on or after January 1, 2027, without cost sharing, to the extent
that federal financial participation is available and not otherwise jeopardized and any necessary federal approvals have been obtained.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 1367.66 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:1367.66.
(a) (1) A individual or group health care service plan contract, except for a specialized health care service plan, issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, shall provide coverage for cervical cancer screening when ordered or provided by an in-network provider operating within their permitted scope of practice and consistent with any relevant recommendations published pursuant to Section 120164.(2) The coverage for a cervical cancer screening test provided pursuant to this subdivision shall include the conventional Pap test, a human papillomavirus screening test that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
including FDA-authorized or cleared self-collected cervical screening kits that allow patients to self-collect samples at a location outside of a clinical setting, and the option of any cervical cancer screening test approved by the FDA that is ordered or provided by the patient’s health care provider.
(b) A health care service plan contract, except for a specialized health care service plan, issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, shall provide coverage for the human papillomavirus vaccine for enrollees for whom the vaccine is approved by the FDA.
(c) A health care service plan contract shall not impose a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement on the coverage provided pursuant to this section.
(d) The cost-sharing requirements described in subdivision (c) shall only apply to a health savings account-eligible health care service plan to the extent the plan does not fail to be treated as a high deductible health plan under Section 223 of Title 26 of the United States Code.
(e) This section does not apply to a vision-only, dental-only, or Medicare supplement health care service plan contract.
(f) This section does not limit the application of Section 1367.002.
(g) This section does not apply to Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts with the State Department of Health Care Services pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000), Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 14200), or Chapter 8.75 (commencing with Section 14591) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
SEC. 2.
Section 10123.18 of the Insurance Code is amended to read:10123.18.
(a) (1) A health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, shall provide coverage for cervical cancer screening when ordered or provided by an in-network provider operating within their permitted scope of practice and consistent with any relevant recommendations published pursuant to Section 120164 of the Health and Safety Code.(2) The coverage for a cervical cancer screening test provided pursuant to this subdivision
shall include the conventional Pap test, a human papillomavirus screening test that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), including FDA-authorized or cleared self-collected cervical screening kits that allow patients to self-collect samples at a location outside of a clinical setting, and the option of any cervical cancer screening test approved by the FDA that is ordered or provided by the patient’s health care provider.
(3) This subdivision does not require an individual or group policy to cover treatment or surgery for cervical cancer or to prevent application of deductible or copayment provisions contained in the policy or certificate, and does not require that coverage under an individual or group policy be extended to any other procedures.
(b) A health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, that provides coverage for hospital,
medical, or surgical benefits shall provide coverage for the human papillomavirus vaccine for insureds for whom the vaccine is approved by the FDA.
(c) A health insurance policy shall not impose a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement on the coverage provided pursuant to this section.
(d) The cost-sharing requirements described in subdivision (c) shall only apply to a health savings account-eligible health insurance policy to the extent it does not fail to be treated as a high deductible health plan under Section 223 of Title 26 of the United States Code.
(e) This section does not apply to a vision-only, dental-only, or
Medicare supplement insurance policy.
(f) This section does not limit the application of Section 10112.2.
SEC. 3.
Section 14132.17 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:14132.17.
(a) Cervical cancer tests for screening that are ordered by a patient’s health care provider and consistent with any relevant recommendations published pursuant to Section 120164 of the Health and Safety Code are a covered benefit under this chapter, on or after January 1, 2027, subject to medical necessity and utilization management controls, to the extent required or permitted by federal law.(b) (1) Cervical cancer home test kits for screening that allow patients to self-collect samples and are United States Food and Drug
Administration-authorized or cleared
are a covered benefit under this chapter, on or after January 1, 2027, subject to medical necessity and utilization management controls, to the extent required or permitted by federal law.
(2) A test described in paragraph (1) shall be ordered or provided by a patient’s health care provider and shall be consistent with both of the following:
(A) Any relevant recommendations published pursuant to Section 120164 of the Health and Safety Code.
(B) Medi-Cal policies.
(3) Reimbursement for a test described in paragraph (1) shall use a clinically appropriate Current Procedural Terminology or Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System billing code in order to comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requirements.
(4) A Medi-Cal beneficiary is not subject to any cost sharing, including, but not limited to, a share of cost or spend down of excess income as described in Section 14054 for the benefit described in
this subdivision.
(5) This subdivision applies to both the fee-for-service delivery system and the managed care delivery system under the Medi-Cal program.
(6) The coverage described in this subdivision is a covered benefit only to the extent that federal financial participation is available and not otherwise jeopardized and any necessary federal approvals have been obtained.
(7) Notwithstanding any other law, the department,
without taking any further regulatory action, may implement, interpret, or make specific this subdivision by means of all-county letters, plan letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions.
