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New Jersey - N.J. Senate Passes Bill Expanding Coverage of Therapy for Developmentally Disabled Children |
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New Jersey - State-regulated insurance companies would be required to cover screenings and any medically necessary therapies for children with autism and other developmental disabilities, under a bill the Senate passed unanimously today.
Insurance companies historically have argued against covering services for children with autism because these therapies were educational, not medical. They also argued services like speech therapy cannot be classified as medically "restorative" if a child has never spoken, which is not uncommon characteristic in autistic children, said Leslie Long, public policy director for Autism New Jersey, a family advocacy group.
But lawmakers and autism advocates are challenging this way of thinking, Long said.
New Jersey would be the 14th state to enact an insurance mandate for the cost of autism treatment services, according to Stateline.org, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that tracks state issues. Another dozen states are debating similar legislation.
Federally regulated insurance carriers would not have to comply with the mandate. But a congressional bill pending aims to change that.
"We're excited,'' Long said. "We see the federal government leaning toward health coverage. We did something that is going to happen across the country.''
New Jersey's bill, modeled after limits in Pennsylvania, says insurance carriers would be required to provide up to $36,000 in applied behavioral analysis services, a common autism treatment. There is no cap on occupational, physical or speech therapies services.
"Countless families with an autistic child are bankrupting themselves to give their child the potential for a brighter future,'' said Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), one of the bill's sponsors whom families credited for driving the bill's success. "Autistic and disabled adults who have not received the proper treatment will leave our families, communities and state with new and more expensive challenges.''
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Read Comments (2) — Post Yours »
1
Jun 18, 2009 at 07:40 PM Anonymous Says:
When will this happen in New York?
2
Jun 18, 2009 at 08:42 PM Anonymous Says:
As th eparent os an affected child I can only say WATCH OUT, there may be unintended results. By providing insurance benefits we will now get a new crop of so called experts that will feed on the system by getting paid for dubious quality work. Old time speech pathologists do not get paid anything close to our newly minted experts that specialize in children under 3 years old because the Government pays better, thinking it is atracting experts. Now we can expect ABA specialists that will be paid almost unlimited with no clear results or record if the hours are really spent.