{"id":4550,"date":"2011-01-31T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=4550"},"modified":"2011-01-31T11:13:46","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T15:13:46","slug":"autism-insurance-reform-initiatives-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/autism-insurance-reform-initiatives-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Autism Insurance Reform Initiatives 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Autism%20Insurance%20Reform%20Initiatives%202011\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>The issue of insurance covering ABA therapy for children with autism is a big issue for families in many states and for military families moving from state to state.<\/p>\n<p>Although some private insurance companies will pay for a diagnosis, many insurance companies do not pay for treatment. Nationwide initiatives are underway to change state insurance laws for private health insurance .<\/p>\n<p>For military families, Dept of Defense is now claiming that ABA therapy is not proven to be &#8220;medically or psychologically necessary&#8221; &#8211; the reason TRICARE,\u00a0 DOD&#8217;s insurer, does not pay for the care. Military families have now filed a motion for an injunction to mandate Tricare coverage of ABA therapy.<\/p>\n<p>More about <strong>autism anti-discrimination legislation..<\/strong>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Military Families<\/strong> <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbc12.com\/Global\/story.asp?S=13902678\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Seek Injunction Against Department of Defense<\/span><\/a> to mandate that TRICARE cover  medically necessary care needed by children with  autism.\u00a0\u00a0<em>Berge v. United States of America, et al.<\/em>, No.10-cv-00373-RBW (D.DC) &#8211; <a href=\"..\/..\/info\/berge.v.usa.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">complaint<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbc12.com\/Global\/story.asp?S=13902678\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">http:\/\/www.nbc12.com\/Global\/story.asp?S=13902678<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Other families with private insurance<\/strong> are faced with making the decision to move in order to get adequate coverage for treatment of a child with autism. In September, we posted on our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Wrightslaw\/258027171722?ref=ts#%21\/pages\/Wrightslaw\/258027171722?v=wall\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wrightslaw Facebook<\/span><\/a> page about families moving to  states where autism anti-discrimination legislation had been passed.\u00a0  This legislation compels insurance companies to cover ABA treatment for  children with autism.<\/p>\n<p>The first comment posted on our FB link asked<strong> &#8220;What&#8217;s the best state  for autism treatment?&#8221; <\/strong>This question was followed by comments from  families who have moved in search of both appropriate autism therapy and  adequate insurance coverage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>State legislation and insurance reform initiatives vary across the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Supported by many parents, some parents are afraid stringent insurance requirements could prevent coverage of certain therapies. Others fear these reforms would increase health insurance premiums for everyone.\u00a0 State officials are also concerned about possible increased financial burden.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Twenty-three states have so far passed legislation to end insurance companies\u2019 discrimination against people with autism.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When we posted the FB article in September, a controversial version of the bill for NY was on Gov. David Paterson&#8217;s desk.\u00a0 In October 2010, although approved by the legislature, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autismvotes.org\/site\/c.frKNI3PCImE\/b.4444871\/k.D0BD\/New_York.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Gov. Paterson vetoed the bill<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Governor Paterson is only the second governor in the United States to veto such legislation. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford\u00a0 vetoed such legislation in June, 2007, but the S.C. legislature later overrode Sanford\u2019s veto and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.autismspeaks.org\/inthenews\/south_carolina_insurance.php\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Ryan\u2019s Law<\/span><\/a> was enacted.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autismvotes.org\/atf\/cf\/%7B2A179B73-96E2-44C3-8816-1B1C0BE5334B%7D\/State%20Map%20-%201.10.11.pdf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px;float:right\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/images\/map.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"103\" \/><\/a>Only 3 states (Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming) are not currently pursuing autism insurance reform.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autismvotes.org\/site\/c.frKNI3PCImE\/b.3909861\/k.B9DF\/State_Initiatives.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Find out what&#8217;s happening in your state<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.autismvotes.org\/site\/c.frKNI3PCImE\/b.3909853\/k.BE44\/Home.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Autism Votes<\/span><\/a>, an Autism Speaks initiative for state autism insurance reform has a state by state analysis of anti-discrimination legislation.<\/p>\n<p>You will find which states have enacted insurance reform laws and which states are pursuing autism insurance reform bills in 2011.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2010\/HEALTH\/09\/17\/autism.aba.legislation\/?hpt=3DSbin\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Moving Out of State to Get Autism Treatment<\/span><\/a> by Paul Frysh (CNN, September 17, 2010)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2010\/HEALTH\/09\/17\/autism.aba.legislation\/?hpt=3DSbin\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2010\/HEALTH\/09\/17\/autism.aba.legislation\/?hpt=3DSbin<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The issue of insurance covering ABA therapy for children with autism is a big issue for families in many states and for military families moving from state to state. Although <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/autism-insurance-reform-initiatives-2011\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1271,1273],"tags":[60,42,725,724,726,730],"class_list":["post-4550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism","category-political-action","tag-aba","tag-autism","tag-autism-anti-discrimination-legislation","tag-autism-insurance-reform","tag-autism-therapy","tag-tricare"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4550"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4610,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550\/revisions\/4610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}