AB 2292 prohibits charges for disability benefit certificates
Oct 11, 2026 edition · GC-2026-0225 · Published 2026-10-11 · Version 3 · Final
AB 2292 prohibits administrative charges for covered disability-benefit certification and recertification work. It preserves comparable charges for actual examination services and applicable cost sharing when they are not imposed solely to complete the required certificate or form.
What happened
California enacted AB 2292 on September 28 as Chapter 734. New Unemployment Insurance Code section 2708(h) prohibits a physician or practitioner from charging a person an administrative fee to complete a required certificate form. The prohibition also covers administrative fees for subsequent recertification examinations and forms required to maintain continued disability-benefit eligibility. Actual medical services connected to an examination may still be billed, with applicable copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles, if the charges are consistent with comparable medical services and are not imposed solely for form completion.
The underlying section uses treating-practitioner certificates to establish medical eligibility for initial and continuing periods, and separately specifies evidence for leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition. For a claimant's own condition, the required certificate addresses diagnosis or symptoms, medical facts, disability, and expected duration; the family-care certificate addresses the condition and needed participation in care. Those retained requirements explain why the administrative-fee restriction matters to access to benefit documentation. The amendment neither removes medical certification nor makes every clinical examination connected to a claim free of charge.
Scope and timing
- Authority status
- Final
- Applicability
- Potentially applicable
- Audience
- Health systems, Provider networks, Health-tech
- Jurisdiction
- California
- Recorded date
- 2027-01-01
- Date type
- effective
Why it matters
Form fees can impede benefit access and need separate controls from clinical billing.
Recommended action
Review certification fee schedules and vendor arrangements; distinguish prohibited administrative charges from permissible examination billing.
Sources
- AB2292 enacted final textOfficial · California Legislature · 2026-09-28 · Source review 2026-10-11
- California Constitution, Article IV section 8(c), official Assembly 2023–24 editionOfficial · California State Assembly · Source review 2026-10-14
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