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I would like to suggest a show on Autism Health Insurance Reform--State bill SB555 and House bill HB2214. Currently, only a few self-insured plans cover medically necessary treatment of autism (including Intel with a very good coverage). None of the private insurers in Oregon cover autism outside of PacificSource that just lost a federal court case last year regarding coverage of ABA treatment. This is not the case in other states, more than 20 of them have autism insurance mandates and medically necessary treatments are covered there. The latest state to pass this reform is the state of Arkansas (just this week)! Treatments, such as ABA, have a wealth of research behind them showing their success rate--with timely intensive therapy 47% of children on the autism spectrum recover "typical" function, 40% show significant improvement. But intensive therapy is out of reach for most families in Oregon leaving their children untreated even though they have medical insurance. Currently most of the treatment for autism is done by the state of Oregon. In our own experience, when our Kaiser doctor diagnosed our child with Asperger's she gave us a list of books to read and referred us to MESD. The school system has had to fill the gap with providing services to autistic kids (very inadequate and primarily education-based) and paying to make accommodations for children, many of whom are non-verbal and need medical care. If State bill SB555 and House bill HB2214 were to pass as written, schools in Oregon may recover over $10 million in school-provided medical costs each year from private insurance policies. Over the first decade after implementation, as intensive treatment becomes the norm for individuals with autism in Oregon, we could see an annual savings of $65 million in special education costs. And many families may experience the joy of having their non-verbal children start responding to them, showing their affection and saying "I love you".

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Has there been any coverage of Senate bill SB555 and House bill HB2214? These are identical bills with bi-partisan support in the House requiring medical insurance to cover autism spectrum disorders. Right now most medical insurance plans in Oregon don't cover autism instead directing their patients towards state and public school system services or providing very limited coverage of some services (OT and speech). Almost half of the US states have similar mandates. The public testimony in the House on HB2214 was held on 2/8/11, with many medical professionals, researchers, providers, and parents (including legislators) testifying in support of the bill. The public testimony in the Senate on SB555 was held on 2/16/11 for supporters of the bill. Senate also held testimony on SB555 on 2/28/11 to give insurance industry a chance for their testimony. One of the insurance companies stated their support for the bill (they just lost a federal case requiring them to cover ABA treatment for autism in Oregon, they are the only provider right now in Oregon that has to cover ABA). The audio for all the hearings is available on-line. This is a very important issue for Oregon since the number of people living with autism is growing. At the House hearing on 2/8/11 one of the legislators mentioned that 20 Oregon legislators have family members with autism--from children to grandchildren, nephews, etc.

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