ASSEMBLY HEALTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 1841

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  NOVEMBER 24, 2025

      The Assembly Health Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 1841 (1R).

      The bill, as amended, requires health, hospital, and medical service corporations, health maintenance organizations, and commercial group health insurers to provide coverage for an annual prostate cancer screening without cost sharing in accordance with the latest nationally recognized clinical practice guidelines.  The amended bill also extends the prostate cancer screening requirements to commercial individual health insurers, health benefits plans issued pursuant to the New Jersey Individual Health Coverage and Small Employer Health Benefits Programs.  “Nationally recognized clinical practice guidelines” are defined as evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, developed by independent organizations or medical professional societies using a transparent methodology and reporting structure, which set standards of care informed by a systemic review of evidence and include recommendations to optimize patient care.

      The amended bill specifies that these coverage requirements would apply to high-deductible health plans to the maximum extent permissible under federal law, unless the plan is used to establish a medical savings account or a health savings account under the federal Internal Revenue Code, as well as a plan that meets the requirements of a catastrophic plan, as defined under federal regulations.   Under current law, these health insurance carriers are required only to provide coverage for an annual medically recognized diagnostic examination including, but not limited to, a digital rectal examination and a prostate-specific antigen 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 bill, as amended, also extends the requirement for coverage of an annual prostate cancer screening without cost sharing in accordance with the latest nationally recognized clinical practice guidelines to the State Health Benefits and the School Employees’ Health Benefits Program, which are not required to provide this coverage under current law.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments extend the prostate cancer screening coverage requirements, as established under the bill for certain types of health insurance plans, to a high-deductible health plan to the maximum extent permissible under federal law, unless the plan is used to establish a medical savings account or a health savings account under certain sections of the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and provide that the coverage requirements would not disqualify such an account for the tax deduction allowed under the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986.  These amendments would apply to: health, hospital, and medical service corporations, health maintenance organizations, and commercial group health insurers, commercial individual health insurers, and health benefits plans issued pursuant to the New Jersey Individual Health Coverage and Small Employer Health Benefits Programs. 

      The committee amendments specify that the prostate cancer screening coverage requirements would apply to plans that meet the requirements of a catastrophic plan, as defined under federal regulation, to the maximum extent permitted by federal law.

      The committee amendments add a definition of “nationally recognized clinical practice guidelines.”