The following health insurance mandate bills will be considered at legislative committee meetings this Thursday, June 1st
Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance:
A1007 – Requires insurers to provide coverage for medications and dose-intensive chemotherapy/bone marrow transplants and umbilical cord blood transplants for treatment of sickle cell anemia.
A1977 – Requires health benefits coverage for mammograms for women under 40 who lack access to family medical history due to their or their parent’s adoption.
Senate Budget and Appropriations:
S659/A2297 – Requires health insurance coverage for contraceptives to include prescriptions for 12 months.
NJBIA consistently asks that all bills mandating health insurance coverage be reviewed by the Mandated Health Benefits Advisory Commission prior to being heard in committee. This statutorily created Commission is charged with providing the Legislature with independent documentation defining the social and financial impact and medical effectiveness of proposed mandated health benefits legislation. With the cost of health coverage steadily increasing each year, it is crucial to carefully evaluate the impact of all coverage mandates. Since these bills have not been reviewed by the Commission, it is unclear what impact they would have on the cost of health insurance.
