HLS 10RS-3551 ORIGINAL
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Approved
6-7-10
Regular Session, 2010
HOUSE CONCURRENT STUDY REQUEST NO. 4
BY REPRESENTATIVE BARROW
INSURANCE/HEALTH-ACCID: Requests the House and Senate insurance committees to
study requiring health insurance coverage of an annual screening for sexually
transmitted diseases
A CONCURRENT STUDY REQUEST1
To the House Committee on Insurance and the Senate Committee on Insurance to meet and2
to function as a joint committee to study requiring health insurance coverage of an3
annual screening for sexually transmitted diseases, and to report the findings of the4
joint committee to the legislature prior to the convening of the 2011 Regular Session5
of the Legislature.6
WHEREAS, House Bill No. 265 of the 2010 Regular Session would have required7
health insurance coverage of an annual screening for sexually transmitted diseases; and 8
WHEREAS, the Center for Disease Control estimates that there are nineteen million9
new sexually transmitted disease infections each year in the United States; and 10
WHEREAS, in 2008, Louisiana had the fifth highest chlamydia case rate in the11
nation, with nearly twenty-three thousand newly reported cases; and 12
WHEREAS, in 2008, Louisiana had the second highest gonorrhea case rate in the13
nation, with approximately nine thousand five hundred newly reported cases; and 14
WHEREAS, in 2008, Louisiana had the highest primary and secondary syphilis case15
rate in the nation, with a case rate almost four times higher than the national rate; and 16
WHEREAS, in 2008, Louisiana had the highest congenital syphilis case rate in the17
nation, with a case rate almost four times higher than the national rate; and 18 HLS 10RS-3551 ORIGINAL
HCSR NO. 4
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WHEREAS, in 2008, over sixteen thousand persons were living with HIV/AIDS in1
Louisiana, with approximately eighty thousand six hundred with an AIDS diagnosis and one2
thousand one hundred new HIV diagnoses that year; and 3
WHEREAS, the state's HIV/AIDS epidemic will impact public health for decades4
as the lifetime cost for one AIDS patient is over one hundred thousand dollars, primarily5
paid by the government; and 6
WHEREAS, new cases of AIDS will obligate Louisiana to about one hundred7
twenty million dollars in future medical costs each year; and 8
WHEREAS, annual screening for these sexually transmitted diseases will help to9
detect them at an earlier stage, stemming their spread by providing for earlier, more effective10
treatment.11
THEREFORE, the Legislature of Louisiana requests the House Committee on12
Insurance and the Senate Committee on Insurance to meet and to function as a joint13
committee to study requiring health insurance coverage of an annual screening for sexually14
transmitted diseases and to report the findings of the joint committee to the legislature prior15
to the convening of the 2011 Regular Session of the Legislature.16
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
Barrow HCSR No. 4
Requests the House Committee on Insurance and the Senate Committee on Insurance to
meet and to function as a joint committee to study requiring health insurance coverage of an
annual screening for sexually transmitted diseases. Also requires a report of the findings of
the joint committee to the legislature prior to the convening of the 2011 R.S.