Capital Corner
By Will Melofchik – NCOIL General Counsel
Greetings – Welcome to the latest installment of Capital Corner, a column that aims to update you on some of the issues that NCOIL is following. Below are some of the issues that NCOIL will be discussing at the upcoming NCOIL Spring Meeting and will be monitoring throughout 2023.
Health Policy Takes Center Stage in San Diego
The agenda for the upcoming Spring Meeting in San Diego is particularly abundant with timely health policy issues. The Health Insurance & Long Term Care Issues Committee (Committee) agenda will be discussing the development of three Model Laws.
The first will be the NCOIL Biomarker Testing Insurance Coverage Model Act, sponsored by Asw. Pam Hunter (NY), NCOIL Treasurer, and co-sponsored by Sen. Paul Utke (MN), NCOIL Secretary. The Model requires health insurers to provide coverage for biomarker testing for diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of disease. Similar legislation has been enacted in Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana, and Rhode Island, and introduced in California, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, and Washington.
Biomarker testing is the analysis of blood, other body fluids, and/or tissue for the presence of biomarkers, which can be defined as objectively measurable characteristics that help measure one’s biological state, including the presence and progress of disease1. While this innovative method of testing has been applied in the diagnosis and monitoring of numerous conditions, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, infections, and genetic disorders2, the Model Act is intended to deal only with its use post diagnosis to determine the most effective treatment options. Biomarker testing is part of a practice termed “precision medicine” which is an approach to medical care in which disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are tailored to the genes, proteins, and other substances in the body.3
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