ASA-ASO ACTION ALERT: 3rd Autism Insurance Coverage Bill Hearing Scheduled

[Guest guest]

Dear Friend of ASA-ASO :

Please use this link to write to your state representative and urge him or her to support HB 8.

The second hearing of HB 8, Autism Insurance Coverage, before the House Healthcare Access and Affordability Committee, held Wednesday, March 18, 2009 went very well. Many thanks to the individuals with autism, their families, service providers and other supporters who completely filled the hearing room!

The Committee, chaired by Rep. Lorraine Fende, again heard testimony from proponents of the bill (those in favor of the legislation). Among those testifying were Margaret Demko, a parent from the Athens area, who also is a member of the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council and testified to their support of HB 8, Heidi LaVoie, a parent from the Akron area, a small business owner who is a member of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and also a parent, a large employer that provides autism insurance coverage, Sinclair from the Cleveland Clinic Autism Center and a national expert testifying on the impact of autism insurance coverage in other states that have already passed legislation similar to HB 8. All the testimony was well received and very impressive.

While opponents had the opportunity to testify at Wednesday's hearing, none chose to do so. However, this does not mean that there is no opposition to this bill

The third hearing for HB 8 has been scheduled before the House Healthcare Access and Affordability Committee on March 25th at 4pm in Rm. 122 of the Statehouse. Once again this will be the only bill under consideration at this hearing.

And once again, ASA-ASO and the alliance of other interested parties that have come together to work collaboratively to pass autism insurance coverage in Ohio have arranged for proponents to testify that day. Additionally, this will be the second opportunity for those opposing the bill to testify as well. And once again your help is also needed! Filling the hearing room with supporters of HB 8 will send a strong message to members of the committee and those opposing the bill, so if you are able to do so, please attend the hearing and show your support for Reps. Celeste and Garland and HB 8.

HB 8 is a priority bill for the House Democrats so additional hearings on HB 8 are likely to be scheduled in the coming weeks. We are hopeful that a hearing will be scheduled for April 1 the day of our Autism/Developmental Disability Awareness rally, so if you coming to the rally, be sure to schedule an appointment with your legislators to talk about HB 8. ASA-ASO will send out alerts as additional hearings are scheduled.

The ASA-Autism Society of Ohio has created a web page devoted exclusively to Autism Insurance Parity. Click here to visit. It contains complete information on Autism Insurance Coverage and HB 8.

Sincerely,

Autism Society of America - Autism Society of Ohio Chapter701 S. Main St.Akron, OH 44311(330) 376-0211fax: (330) 376-1226email: askASO@...home: byavorcik@...web: www.autismohio.org--------------------------------------------------------------

State Representative Lorraine Fende ANNOUNCEMENT OF COMMITTEE MEETING COMMITTEE: Healthcare Access and AffordabilityCHAIRWOMAN: Rep. Lorraine M. Fende DATE: March 25, 2009 TIME: 4:00 PMROOM: 122 BILLS SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD: BILL SPONSOR TITLE STATUSHB 8 Celeste/Garland Insurance Coverage – Autism 3rd Hearing Pro/Opp

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