Fwd: Autism insurance reform will not pass this session, N.C.

[Guest guest]

No luck this session on insurance reform in North Carolina, we will keep trying!

Ruth

Autism insurance reform will not pass this session – What happened, what was accomplished and what comes next

Despite our combined best efforts to move our autism insurance bill through this short session, the General Assembly will adjourn next week before acting on autism insurance reform.

This disappointing news will not end our efforts to pass this necessary legislation.

Instead, this delay intensifies ASNC’s commitment to work with you until North Carolina provides families of children and adults with autism the insurance coverage they need and deserve.

What happened:

The purpose of the short session is to make adjustments to the state budget.

The state of the economy, the need for additional deep budget cuts, and the uncertainty over whether federal money will be available to the states all consumed lawmaker’s time and attention.

In addition, we faced an extraordinarily fast time line for the session- the shortest “ short†session in recent history.

Despite the commitment of our bill sponsors and our combined advocacy efforts, we could not get through all the procedural hurdles, the required number of committee hearings, and the fiscal note development before the session time clock ran out.

What did we accomplish:

We had committed bill sponsors in Sen. Garrou, Sen. Purcell, and Rep. England who have been steadfast allies in trying to get our bill passed this year.

Because of your grassroots advocacy efforts, we have garnered support from many others in the Senate and House.

Anyone who attended the committee hearings this session can attest that we changed the minds and hearts of many legislators on the need for autism insurance reform in NC.

You educated our lawmakers about people with autism and their families; not only their needs but also their strengths, their courage and what is possible for the quality of their lives when given appropriate treatment and support.

Your presence at these meetings, your letters and stories, the heartfelt presentations by our parent speakers all provided powerful reasons for why this legislation is so needed.

We received excellent press coverage that was sympathetic to our cause.

And we built partnerships with national organizations, many professionals groups in NC, and most importantly, with families and supporters across the state.

We will build on these partnerships for the next session which begins in January.

Here is what you can do to help:

1. Don’t lose heart! We will get autism insurance reform passed in NC. Others states, like Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky and South Carolina among others, took more than one session to pass their autism insurance legislation. Like them, we will not give up.

2. Please thank our bill sponsors Sen. Garrou and Sen. R. Purcell for their commitment and their work on this bill. Let them know you are willing to work with them next session to get autism insurance reform passed in NC.

3. Please thank any other legislators you have contacted this session as well.

4. Let us know if you will help us in your local community. Over the next 6 months, ASNC staff will be meeting with ASNC Chapters and other supporters to organize visits to legislators in their home districts. RSVP to let us know you can help.

Thank you for all your advocacy efforts this session on autism insurance reform.

ASNC will continue to make passing autism insurance legislation in NC a top legislative priority.

This message was sent from Autism Society of North Carolina to strunckies@.... It was sent from: Autism Society of North Carolina, 505 Oberlin Road, Suite 230, Raleigh , NC 27605-1345. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below.

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