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Rally for insurance coverage of chronic Lyme Disease

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Ticks, and the diseases they spread, were at the center of a rally in Harrisburg on Tuesday. The demonstrators rallied in support of two...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Ticks, and the diseases they spread, were at the center of a rally in Harrisburg on Tuesday.

The demonstrators rallied in support of two pieces of legislation that focus on making sure the treatment of chronic Lyme Disease is covered by insurance. Pennsylvania is a national leader in the number of reported Lyme Disease cases and experts say up to 40 percent of those cases will become chronic or persistent.

"There's really no covered treatment for insurance for persistent Lyme Disease, and this can really be debilitating," said Julia Wagner with the Pennsylvania Lyme Resource Network.

She said children can suffer the greatest impact.

"Children have very severe cognitive effects, many of them are out of school for long periods of time, so we really need to have options to treat that. It doesn't get cured by a short-term course of antibiotics."

Last year, more than 12,000 cases of Lyme Disease were reported in Pennsylvania.

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