Ohioans might get Autism Coverage?! | Autism PDD

Insurance committee slates meeting on autism coverage

Monday, Oct. 29, 2007

By SCOTT HUMMEL
ThisWeek Staff Writer

The Ohio House of Representatives' insurance committee has scheduled a meeting for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to consider a bill that would require insurance companies to cover diagnosis and treatment of autism.

The meeting, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in Room 121 of the Statehouse, is open to the public, and parents of autistic children are encouraged to attend.

House Bill 170, sponsored by Reps. Ted Celeste (D-Grandview Heights) and Jon Peterson (R-Delaware), would prohibit health insurers from excluding coverage for autism.

Peterson said more than a dozen states thus far have passed legislation to require coverage of autism, pointing to South Carolina and Pennsylvania as the most recent examples.

"There's almost a national movement at this point," he said.

Among treatments considered to be the most effective for autism are ABA (applied behavioral analysis) and EIBI (early intensive behavioral intervention), Peterson said.

"The story behind the story is that about 10-15 years ago, insurance companies began to deny claims," he said. "They said the (ABA and EIBI) programs had no empirical evidence. ... That was valid 10-15 years ago. It's not valid now."

Room 121 is on the first floor of the Statehouse, on the House of Representatives side.

Holy smokes. I heard something was going on. We are currently denied Speech, OT and PT by our medical insurance. This would be so awesome. I am tired of paying out of pocket for speech and would like to restart OT and PT.I wonder what will be "required". Our insurance covers some speech and physical therapy but has a huge list of what is not covered (inc ABA). Plus what they do cover has a limit of 60 hrs per year and a high co-pay.