Senator urges insurance coverage for long-term Lyme disease treatment after state case spike

Senator Mouse opened the hearing on Senate Bill 969 by saying Maryland recorded 235 confirmed and probable cases of Lyme disease in 2024, a roughly 30% increase from 2023, and that the Centers for Disease Control has placed the state in a high-risk category. He said the bill would require health insurers to cover long-term antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease when a treating general practitioner determines it is needed.

"When a doctor says you need antibiotic, the patient obviously wants antibiotic and it's not guaranteed that the insurance company will cover that," Senator Mouse said, arguing insurers often deny claims by pointing to medical disagreement about long-term therapy. He described a split in the medical community over extended antibiotic use and said insurers use that disagreement "to exclude coverage and deny claims," leaving patients to pay out of pocket.

The senator framed the legislation narrowly: it would provide coverage for long-term antibiotic treatment as determined by treating physicians, not universal coverage of all Lyme-related care. He told the committee he had read a letter from the Department of Health about the bill. The chair closed the hearing on SB 969 without a recorded committee vote in the provided transcript.

Why it matters: Supporters say the bill would reduce financial barriers for patients who, according to proponents, may need extended treatment to avoid severe neurologic complications if Lyme is not caught early. Opponents are not recorded in the provided segments; the Department of Health supplied a letter to the committee (contents not read into the record in these segments).

Next steps: The committee closed the SB 969 hearing and moved on to other bills; the committee prepared a voting list later in the session but no vote on SB 969 is recorded in the supplied transcript.