Bill Description: House Concurrent Resolution 27 would call on the Idaho Department of Insurance to strong-arm health insurance companies into covering certain specific medical procedures. 

Rating: -1

Does it give government any new, additional, or expanded power to prohibit, restrict, or regulate activities in the free market? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce government intervention in the market?

House Concurrent Resolution 27 is a resolution targeting health insurance companies that do not provide a specific treatment for pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infection (PANDAS) and pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS).

The resolution lauds intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), one of many possible treatments for these conditions, and laments that it is not covered by certain health insurance companies

The resolution says, "The Legislature requests that the Department of Insurance consult with leaders in the insurance industry to determine how to make medically necessary IVIG treatment available to all Idaho children who are insured."

While this resolution does not independently impose new regulations or mandates on private health insurance companies, the implications are clear. The Department of Insurance is not instructed to determine if IVIG is necessary or if private insurers should be required to provide coverage. Instead, the Department is tasked with "how" to make the treatment available to "all" Idaho children who are insured.

This resolution embraces the false notion that government should regulate health care, micromanage the health care insurance market, declare what treatments the government considers necessary, and mandate that insurers cover the costs of providing such preferred treatments.

(-1)