Directs the superintendent of financial services, in consultation with the commissioner of health, to study the relationship between patient access to care and treatment of Lyme disease and health insurance coverage.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1295
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 14, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sens. SERINO, CARLUCCI, JACOBS, KENNEDY, LITTLE, RITCHIE,
SEWARD, TEDISCO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to
be committed to the Committee on Insurance
AN ACT directing the superintendent of financial services to study the
relationship between patient access to care and treatment of Lyme
disease and health insurance coverage
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The legislature hereby finds that the increasing number of
2 Lyme disease and tick-borne related diseases in New York state high-
3 lights the need to examine the relationship between patient access to
4 care and treatment of Lyme disease and health insurance coverage. Lyme
5 disease is one of several tick-borne diseases that may result in symp-
6 toms including, but not limited to, extreme and long-term fatigue,
7 nausea, depression, and joint pain. Lyme disease is the most common
8 vector-borne illness in the United States and New York is one of a group
9 of 14 states that account for 95% of cases in the United States.
10 According to the New York State Department of Health, over 20,000 cases
11 of Lyme disease were diagnosed between years 2012 and 2014.
12 § 2. The superintendent of financial services, in consultation with
13 the commissioner of health, shall review the status of health insurance
14 coverage for the treatment of Lyme disease and other tick-borne related
15 diseases, and make recommendations regarding potential changes to insur-
16 ance coverage requirements and parameters. Such review shall include,
17 but not be limited to:
18 (a) The current range of insurance coverage for the treatment of Lyme
19 and other tick-borne related diseases within New York State;
20 (b) Reasons for insurer denial of coverage for the treatment of Lyme
21 and other tick-borne related diseases;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06842-01-9
S. 1295 2
1 (c) Insurance coverage required by other states for the treatment of
2 symptoms related to Lyme and other tick-borne diseases and their esti-
3 mated costs and payment models;
4 (d) The estimated cost of expanding coverage for the treatment of
5 symptoms related to Lyme disease and other tick-borne related diseases.
6 § 3. Within one hundred eighty days of the effective date of this act,
7 the superintendent of financial services shall submit a report to the
8 governor, temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the
9 assembly of the department of financial services' findings, conclusions
10 and recommendations.
11 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
