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TO AMEND SECTION 38-71-145, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO REQUIRED INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR CERTAIN DIAGNOSTIC AND LABORATORY TESTS, INCLUDING MAMMOGRAMS, ANNUAL PAP SMEARS, AND PROSTATE CANCER, SO AS TO ALSO REQUIRE COVERAGE FOR COLORECTAL CANCER EXAMINATIONS AND LABORATORY TESTS.
Whereas, Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer deaths for all South Carolinians and the fourth most common cancer among both men and women in South Carolina; and
Whereas, Medicare, the South Carolina Medicaid Program, and the State Health Insurance Plan already provide CRC screening services following the American Cancer Society and U.S. Preventive Task Force recommendations; and
Whereas, the American Cancer Society and the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommend that clinicians routinely provide CRC screening to all men and women aged fifty and older; and
Whereas, screening prevents the development of colon cancer, as early diagnosis and treatment of CRC results in a survival rate of greater than ninety percent, and if everyone aged fifty years and older were screened at appropriate intervals, as many as sixty percent of deaths from CRC could be prevented; and
Whereas, the cost to treat a case of CRC is about two hundred thousand dollars compared to approximately three hundred to five hundred dollars for a colonoscopy colorectal cancer screening every ten years. Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 38-71-145(A) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(A) All individual and group health insurance and health maintenance organization policies in this State shall include coverage in the policy for:
(1) mammograms;
(2) annual pap smears;
(3) prostate cancer examinations, screenings, and laboratory work for diagnostic purposes in accordance with the most recent published guidelines of the American Cancer Society.; and
(4) colorectal cancer examinations and laboratory tests for this cancer, in accordance with the most recently published American Cancer Society guidelines for colorectal cancer screening, for a nonsymptomatic covered individual who is:
(a) at least fifty years of age; or
(b) younger than fifty years of age and at high risk for colorectal cancer according to the most recently published colorectal cancer screening guidelines of the American Cancer Society."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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