US: Lyme Disease patients file federal antitrust suit

Friday, November 10, 28 patients filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the Infectious Diseases Society of America, eight health insurance companies, and seven medical doctors, Courthouse News reported on Tuesday, November 14, “because health insurers are denying coverage with bogus guidelines established by their paid consultants, who falsely say the disease can always be cured with a month of antibiotics.”

Contrary to the often-reported claim that Lyme disease affects people almost exclusively from Washington, DC to New England, and in the Great Lakes region, the lawsuit’s plaintiffs represent a wide expanse of the United States, hailing from Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

This new lawsuit is not the first antitrust suit filed against the Infectious Diseases Society of America. In 2006, the Office of the Connecticut Attorney General filed an antitrust investigation to determine whether conflicts of interest may have affected the development of the IDSA’s clinical practice guidelines for Lyme disease.

Full Content: Courthouse News

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