Maryland legislature to hold hearings on Lyme insurance bill
The Maryland General Assembly will hold a hearing next week on HB 880, a bill to require insurance companies to cover treatment for Lyme disease.
It is a companion measure to SB 793, which will be considered by the state senate.
The measures are officially titled “Health Insurance- Lyme Disease and Related Tick-Borne Illnesses- Long -Term Antibiotic Treatment.” They have been introduced by Delegate Karen Lewis-Young and Senator Brian Feldman.
Long-term antibiotic treatment is defined as any term exceeding 28 days. The bill states, in part:
IF THE LONG–TERM ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT OF LYME DISEASE AND RELATED TICK–BORNE ILLNESSES HAS BEEN ORDERED BY A LICENSED TREATING PHYSICIAN FOR THERAPEUTIC PURPOSES, AN ENTITY SUBJECT TO THIS SECTION:
(1) SHALL PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR THE FULL LENGTH OF THE LONG–TERM ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT TO BE ADMINISTERED IN THE MANNER PRESCRIBED BY THE LICENSED TREATING PHYSICIAN; AND
(2) MAY NOT IMPOSE A QUANTITATIVE LIMITATION ON THE 24 LONG–TERM ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT
Click here to read the entire bill: Maryland HB 880
If you are a Maryland resident, click here to contact your legislators.
If only the bill would call for paying the specialists for treating Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses. None accept Medicare.
I have lyme and im dying from it and doctors in tyler texas christus hospital still tell me there is no such thing. help help help
But there is no protection for lyme doctors in that state. So anyone who does prescribe antibiotics that the insurance company will have to pay for, according to this proposed law, is going to have the state medical board after them. There are two steps necessary here, and they went to step 2 without protecting the docs in step one.