The Human Services Committee of the PA House of Representatives will held a public hearing on HB 272, The Lyme and Related Tick-Borne Disease Education, Prevention and Treatment Act.

Lyme disease is a serious issue in PA – we are #1 in reported cases (2009 data), and the cases keep climbing, more than doubling in 5 years.  And ticks carry many other serious, even fatal diseases, that too many medical practitioners know little about.  And, the CDC has reported that children ages 5-14 are most at risk.

House Bill 272 directs the Department of Health to establish a task force to address the issues surrounding Lyme disease.  This task force will make and implement recommendations regarding the gaps in education, prevention and surveillance of Lyme and other tick borne diseases in Pennsylvania.  The bill will also ensure that Physicians can apply the two different standards of care that exist today for the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.  Insurance companies have “cherry picked” which standards of care they will approve – effectively “practicing medicine” instead of doctors.  With this bill, physicians will be able to apply longer-term therapies to treat Lyme disease that does not respond to shorter courses.  Research has long demonstrated persistence of these infections which are related to syphilis.  Lastly the bill ensures that insurance companies will pay for the treatment the physician prescribes, putting medical decisions back in the hands of physicians and patients where they should be made.

The hearing was held on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 from 10 am until 12 noon in Harrisburg, PA.