Tulsa World Editorial: It's Time

[Guest guest]

It's time:

Insurance should provide coverage for autism

Apr 07, 2008 (Tulsa World - McClatchy-Tribune Information

Services via COMTEX)

Seven years ago Indiana passed a law requiring insurance companies to

provide coverage for autism. Since then 17 states have passed similar

legislation.

Last week, Arizona joined the list. Louisiana, Mississippi and Connecticut have

bills under consideration. So does Oklahoma. Several weeks ago, "Nick's

Law," named for 10-year-old Nick Rohde, an autistic child from Edmond,

passed in the Senate. Now supporters are trying to get the bill out of a House

committee. This is not an inconsequential matter.

The bio-neurological disorder occurs in one in 150 births and affects up to

1.5 million Americans. The cost of life-long care can be reduced by two-thirds

with early diagnosis and intervention. In a decade the annual national care

costs will be up to $200 billion.

The bill did not make it on the agenda of the House Economic Development

Committee meeting Thursday. But parents of children affected by autism who had

showed up to support "Nick's Law" did not leave and instead hung

around to answer questions from lawmakers during breaks in the meeting and

afterward.

Fortunately Nick's Law is appended to another bill set to come up in the Economic Development Committee. Let's hope it can be heard and that

committee members will have the courage to vote for it.

For the families of children with autism, the bio-neurological disorder is

as real as heart disease, more prevalent than childhood cancer and often

difficult to treat. Obtaining insurance coverage for psychological and

neurological disorders has never been an easy sell in Oklahoma.

It took years for lawmakers to recognize that mental health treatment

deserved coverage parity with other illnesses.

Our insurance industry is not heavily mandated. According to the Tulsa

Autism Foundation the insurance industry's own policy group reports that autism

insurance coverage would increase costs by less than 1 percent.

Mandates affecting the state insurance industry

must be scrutinized carefully with an eye toward fairness. Why should autism be

excluded? Lawmakers should seriously consider authorizing coverage for this

devastating disorder, the fastest-growing developmental disability in the

nation.

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