‘Wide-Ranging’ Health Insurance Laws Take Effect in Connecticut
"Expanded" health coverage for mammograms, pap smears, colonoscopies and hearing aids for children is included among nearly 160 new laws taking effect in Connecticut on Oct. 1 following approval by the Connecticut Legislature and Gov. John Rowland (R), the AP/Hartford Courant reports. According to the AP/Courant, the recent "rash" of insurance legislation follows "complaints by consumers that not all insurance companies cover cancer screenings and other medical procedures." The new legislation includes the following measures:
- Following the recommendations of the American College of Gastroenterology, insurers will now be required to cover colonoscopies, fecal occult blood tests, flexible sigmoidoscopy and radiologic imaging to test for colorectal cancer.
- Coverage for annual mammograms will begin at age 40 instead of age 50.
- Beginning Jan. 1, 2002, insurers will be required to offer cancer patients coverage for experimental treatments.
- The bill will also cover new hearing aids for children under the age of 13, costing up to $1,000, every two years.
- A separate law requires insurers to pay for "medically necessary" infant formula.
- Another separate law prevents school personnel from recommending Ritalin or other psychotropic drugs for children, stipulating that they may only recommend the student be evaluated by a physician. The law is an effort to curb "overuse of behavioral drugs" by ensuring that the "first mention" of drugs for treatment of a behavioral or learning disability "comes from a doctor."
