S.C.R. 29 Summary

• Requests the Auditor to assess social and financial effects of mandating health insurance coverage for biomarker testing under H.B. 553, H.D. 1 (Regular Session 2025), which requires insurers, mutual benefit societies, and health maintenance organizations to cover biomarker testing beginning January 1, 2026

• Defines biomarker testing as analysis of patient tissue, blood, or other biospecimens to measure characteristics indicating normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses, including gene mutations and protein expression

• Identifies five clinical uses for biomarker tests: disease screening, diagnostic assessment, predictive testing for treatment response, treatment monitoring, and prognostic risk estimation for conditions including Alzheimer's disease, cancers, and rheumatoid arthritis

• Requires the Auditor to submit findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the 2026 Regular Session convening

• References prior Auditor Report No. 25-01 which determined no social or financial impacts from coverage mandate, but acknowledges persistent access barriers due to insurer delays in determining medical necessity or coverage denials