Affordable Autism Treatment for Children
Posted June 9th, 2009 by Senator Kirsten GillibrandAutism affects more American children than pediatric cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined. It’s a heartbreaking disease that approximately 29,400 children in every corner of New York suffer from.
Despite autism’s far reach, insurance companies still don’t provide comprehensive coverage for effective treatments, and parents are paying the price – up to $6,000 a month for their child’s treatment.
Last week in Washington, I unveiled a plan to provide quality autism treatment that’s affordable for families.
Please take a look.
Senator Gillibrand’s Plan on Autism
First, I’m pursuing a mandate on insurance companies to ensure they provide affordable, quality treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorders. We must make sure families can get the treatment their children need, through insurance coverage they can afford.
Second, I’m authoring new legislation to provide military families with affordable treatment. My new legislation, the Uniformed Services with Autism Heroes Act or the “USA Heroes Act”, will require TRICARE, the military health insurance program to cover the full cost of autism treatment. Currently, TRICARE caps autism coverage at $3,000 a month – about half the treatment a child needs for effective therapy. What’s worse, thousands of military families are forced to the bottom of long waiting lists for autism specialists each time they are relocated. Families that fight our wars and defend our freedoms should not face bankruptcy for trying to get the medical care their children need.
And as the third step in my plan, I’m calling for a portion of the $10 billion that was given to the NIH under the President’s Economic Recovery plan be dedicated toward autism research to give scientists and laboratories the resources they need to reach the next breakthrough.
8 Comments
Please see You Tube video titled: “Severely Autistic Boy Beaten by Big Government”
It’s an eye opener. Mom takes you inside the crazy system serving autistic children/teen/adults/ and exposes some of the apathetic people we have working in our agencies. Amazing. Shocking. Sad. We need big change with less government right now.
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September 1, 2009 at 12:56 pm by TomI feel that insurance needs to do their part as the rest of us do our part in teaching these kids and working with them so they can become productive adults with the capabilities of living on their own in our communities.
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June 10, 2009 at 2:41 pm by franMore excellent ideas from Senator Gillibrand. Your multi-faceted initiatives in the area of health care alone are admirable. Families are struggling with the weight of medical care–especially for difficult problems like autism–and any support will be greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work!
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June 9, 2009 at 5:48 pm by rrliebermaHow fortunate that New York has a thoughtful Senator who has taken such an interest in serious issue such as autism as part of her concern for healthy children and healthy families.
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June 9, 2009 at 4:35 pm by Sharon CarnesI am a single mother of two AI boys and a thrid that is n the AI border. I recently called my sons insurance carrier and asked about assistance in getting his medications changed. I was told that they would not help because of his AI diagnosis. It definitely is discrimination. I feel that insurance needs to do their part as the rest of us do our part in teaching these kids and working with them so they can become productive adults with the capeabilities of living on their own in our communities. For those that might not make it on their own insurance also needs to cover adult services, too. Much more research needs to be completed to find out the connections that haven’t been found yet. With having three on the spectrum I am wondering if there is a genetic reason behind it all. I myself have many AI charachteristics and I have recently found out my nephew has also been diagnosed AI. There is too much here for it to be coincidence. The other issue I see is that there needs to be a consistence between school and medical AI diagnosis to get the individuals treatment they so desperately need that the schools are denying based mainly on their lack of criteria and money issues. Support insurance to support the schools and we will be much better off.
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June 9, 2009 at 1:07 pm by Kristi Warrington6/22/09 was the day I was told my son has ASD (Asperger’s Syndrome). My son’s school said that he will be starting PT, OT and speech help next year. I wanted to help my son now, so I called my insurance company. I was so naive. I thought I would get some help. To my surprise, I was told there is no additional help once my child is labeled Autistic. No help! They could not send me any information of any kind. I was told “sorry and good luck with your son”. If I was severally hurt, I would be sent to physical therapy. But, my son can not get physical therapy because he is Autistic. This sounds like discrimination to me. Do these insurance companies think our children are not worth it? My son’s IQ is probably higher than these people who are making important decisions in part of our insurance benefits. With proper assistance who knows what my son can become. He maybe the person who finds a cure for Cancer or an inventor who come up with something that can improve our lives, yet our insurance company can not do the same for him. I had no idea that this was going on. We need help to make others aware. Until the insurance companies change, we will fight. I, like so many other parents of Autistic children, will do what I can to make sure that my child gets the help he needs.
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June 9, 2009 at 11:03 am by Cheryle DaubIsn’t it interesting that insurance companies dictate our lives? First, we have to have insurance to have a driver’s license; even if you don’t own a car and when you drive somebody else’s car, as long as you are an authorized driver, you are covered? Then you have to have unemployment insurance, but you have to fight to collect. Then you have to have house insurance but you have to fight them to collect. Medical insurance has a life all its own. Rarely covers what you need it to cover. I needed to lose 50 lbs. My insurance would cover stomach stapling and gatro-bypass, but it would not cover my physician’s weight loss clinic which promotes a proper eating and exercise habits. And, forget about “orphan” drugs.
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June 9, 2009 at 10:02 am by Carrie LaddI am a parent with a child who has ASD. The problem that we are having is that the school has a different criteria for diagnosing Autism then the medical filed thus there is a big gap of children with Autism who can not get support in the school system. Not only do we need all families who have a child with ASD to get medical coverage, but we need to overhaul the criteria for the school to recognize the “medical” diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
This is a epidemic and in the time it took me to complete this form another family has just learned that their child has Autism.
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