Proposal Would Require Insurance Coverage For Lyme Disease 

Wood ticks are common on the Cape. But deer ticks that carry Lyme disease are much smaller, the size of a freckle.

Wood ticks are common on the Cape. But deer ticks that carry Lyme disease are much smaller, the size of a freckle.

BOSTON – Massachusetts lawmakers have advanced a proposal that would require insurance companies to provide coverage for doctor-prescribed Lyme Disease treatments.

The measure was tacked on to the nearly $40 billion state budget that was approved last Wednesday by the House of Representatives. It now goes to the Senate.

Cape Cod and the Islands have some of the highest incidences of Lyme Disease in the country.

Rep. David Linsky, a Natick Democrat who filed the amendment, calls the tick-borne illness an epidemic that is spreading across the state at an alarming rate.

Linsky says some Massachusetts residents have run up more than $50,000 in out-of-pocket costs for Lyme Disease treatment.

The measure would require insurers to provide coverage but doesn’t specify the type of treatment.

Linsky says a study done by the Center for Health Insurance Analysis found the requirement would add no more than 13 cents per policy.

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