SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1077

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 20, 1996

      The Senate Health Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1077 with committee amendments.

      As amended by committee, this bill requires all health insurers which cover groups with 50 or more persons and health maintenance organizations to provide benefits for an annual medically recognized diagnostic examination including, but not limited to, a digital rectal examination and a prostate-specific anitgen (PSA) test for men age 50 and over who are asymptomatic and for men age 40 and over with a family history of prostate cancer or other prostate cancer risk factors. The PSA blood test was recently approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration to help detect prostate cancer in men when used in conjuction with a digital rectal examination.

      Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, and the American Cancer Society estimates that the disease will kill 41,400 men in 1996. An estimated 317,100 new cases in the United States will be detected in 1996. Between 1980 and 1990, prostate cancer incidence rates increased 50%, largely due to improved detection. It is expected that there will be further increases in the incidence of this disease with widespread use of PSA blood tests and accompanying diagnostic examinations.

      The committee amended the bill to delete specific reference to transrectal ultrasonagraphy as a required benefit. This reference was deleted because unlike the PSA test and the digital rectal examination, typically, this test would not be performed annually.