BILL NUMBER: S7915
SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the insurance law and the social services law, in
relation to requiring coverage for early egg and peanut allergen intro-
duction dietary supplements
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill requires insurers to provide coverage for allergen introduc-
tion dietary supplements for infants.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one adds a new paragraph 40 to subsection i of section 3216 of
the Insurance Law, covering for-profit individual health plans.
Section two adds a new subsection u to section 3221 of the Insurance
Law, covering for-profit group plans.
Section three adds a new subsection ww to section 4303 of the Insurance
Law, covering nonprofit health plans and health maintenance organiza-
tions (HMOs).
Section four adds a new paragraph nn to subdivision 2 of section 365-a
of the Social Services Law, covering Medicaid.
Section five establishes the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly
eight percent of children across the country suffer from food allergies.
A growing field of research has found that two of the most common food
allergies children face, peanut and egg allergies, can be prevented
through early introduction of the allergen to infants.
A 2022 study titled "Early Introduction of Allergenic Foods and the
Prevention of Food Allergy" published in the scientific journal Nutri-
ents found that early introduction, achieved by providing infants with a
small amount of protein derived from a common food allergen, can be
effective in preventing the development of food allergies. Early intro-
duction dietary supplements are most commonly available in powder form,
allowing them to be mixed into a child's formula or soft foods. In 2021,
the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and the American
College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, in conjunction with the
Canadian Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, released guidance
recommending that infants be introduced to peanut and egg around six
months of age.
Early introduction can prevent these common food allergies from ever
developing, helping to reverse the trend of more children being diag-
nosed with food allergies. This legislation would require that insurers
provide coverage for egg and peanut allergen dietary supplements
prescribed to children under the age of one.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first January after which it shall
have become law.

Statutes affected:
S7915: 3216 insurance law, 3216(i) insurance law, 3221 insurance law, 4303 insurance law, 365-a social services law, 365-a(2) social services law