Final answer:
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that applicants be notified if a health insurance underwriter seeks an investigative report on them.
Step-by-step explanation:
An applicant must be notified if a health insurance underwriter requests a report from an investigative agency in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Passed into law in 1996, HIPAA sets the standards for the protection such as insurance companies and healthcare providers, to maintain strict confidentiality of patient records.
This act ensures that there are protections against unauthorized, nonconsensual release of individually identifiable health information to any entity not actively engaged in the healthcare of a patient.