Yes, where there is a medical exam. HIV testing is a standard part of the blood panel on fully underwritten applications, and your written consent is required before it is carried out.
HIV screening has been part of standard life insurance blood testing for decades, and the process around it is more regulated than most applicants realise.
How it works
On a underwriting">fully underwritten application the paramedical exam includes a blood draw, and the panel screens for HIV antibodies alongside cholesterol, glucose, liver and kidney markers, and cotinine.
You must give separate written consent for HIV testing specifically — it is not bundled into the general application consent. State law governs this, and it also governs how a positive result must be communicated to you, usually through a physician or counsellor you nominate rather than in a letter.
Results and confidentiality
A positive result is reported to you and coded in the MIB, the industry-shared application database, which other carriers can see on a future application. It is not reported to your employer, and it is not public.
What if there is no exam
Simplified issue and guaranteed issue involve no blood draw, so no HIV test. Simplified issue may still ask about it as a health question, and answering honestly is not optional. Accelerated underwriting involves no test either, but reads prescription data — antiretrovirals are visible there.
The full treatment of this topic is on HIV.