ASA-ASO ALERT: Autism Insurance Coverage Hearing Important Notice

[Guest guest]

Dear Friend of ASA-ASO:

While 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 for Proponent/Opponent testimony, currently no OPPONENTS have registered to testify. If there is no opponent testimony, Reps. Celeste and Garland feel that a good case has already been made for autism insurance coverage with the committee and there will be no need for additional proponent testimony at the hearing. However, if there is last minute opponent testimony, there will be proponents prepared to testify.

If you are from the Columbus area and are willing to come to show your support for HB 8 at what might be a very short hearing, please do so! However, if you are coming a long distance, you may not want to come for this hearing. And while Reps. Celeste and Garland appreciate all the support of the many folks who have packed the hearing rooms up to now, they are cognizant of the sacrifices that many parents have made to do so and do not want folks to come long distances if no testimony is to be heard.

As always ASA-ASO will keep you informed as to the outcome of the hearing and any new developments.

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.

If you have not done so, Please use this link to write to your state representative and urge him or her to support HB 8.

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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