Long-term Lyme disease treatment doesn’t burden insurers, panel says

BOSTON – Lyme disease patients who suffer chronic symptoms look to long-term antibiotics for help, but often they lose support of insurers who are only willing to pay for short-term treatment.

Rep. Theodore Speliotis, D-Danvers, has tried for nearly a decade to press insurance companies to pay. But his bill requiring coverage for antibiotics prescribed by a physician has languished under opposition from the healthcare industry.

The Lyme disease bill got a major endorsement this week from a state financial panel that concluded the cost of extending coverage would be minimal to the state and insurers. It still must be approved by the Legislature.

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