AUGUSTA – Legislation aimed at enhancing education, treatment and insurance coverage for Lyme disease was split up by a legislative panel Friday, with the most contentious issue held for more study.

Members of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee voted to send on to the House and Senate legislation that would require the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to study the disease, and require school health centers to have information available on the disease, said committee member Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland.

The committee was expected to hold onto another provision that would require insurance companies to cover necessary treatment for the disease. Committee members will meet over the summer to study that provision and possibly return next session with revisions.

At Tuesday’s public hearing on the bill, 48 people testified in favor, while very few spoke against. Most proponents either had the disease or had a family member who did. They told tales of misdiagnoses, doctors refusing to acknowledge the disease, and battles with insurance companies.

Few medical professionals spoke. “At the public hearing, who was obviously missing were the doctors, the Maine Medical Association and the hospitals,” said bill sponsor Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield. By studying the bill over the summer, “we can have a full discussion with them to get to the bottom of the misdiagnoses.”