Florida governor signs mandatory autism insurance bill
May 20th, 2008From the Tampa Tribune:
TALLAHASSEE – Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill today that will require insurers to cover costly therapies for thousands of autistic children in Florida.
… Effective April 1, the bill will require large insurance group polices to cover behavioral therapies for autistic children, up to $36,000 a year, with a lifetime maximum of $200,000.
…The bill was among the last to pass the legislature this spring, ending a feud between the House and Senate over whether to extend coverage to children with other developmental disabilities such as spina bifida and Down syndrome.
… Crist said he would continue working with lawmakers to expand coverage for the developmentally disabled and called the bill he signed today “a very bold step forward — it’s historic.”
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May 27th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Ed:
First, I applaud you for caring for these children and looking out for their interests. As far as your question: I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I think this bill will have a very narrow application. First off, our legislature has a history of trying to look progressive, but utterly failing in terms of facilitating, funding, and implementing these types of bills.
Second, in order to qualify, the child would have to be already covered by a large group health insurance policy. If you can get over that hurdle, then I would guess that the date the bill goes into effect would be July 1.
Third, at some point, these many parents will be seeking out ABA and related therapies for their children — and there will be a real bottleneck situation. There will not be enough therapists to cover all the children because previously there was no “insurance-covered therapy market”; it was an “out-of-pocket, cash market”.
And now, since autism is the ONLY group covered, more and more parents will flock to their children’s doctors and psychologists to get an “autism spectrum disorder” diagnosis so that their child could qualify for the much needed therapy. Obviously, I think it’s going to be a real mess. If you know someone who would qualify under this bill, my advice to them would be to establish a therapist now — before the bill goes into effect — before a therapist shortage occurs.
Good luck to you…
Shawn Lupella
May 26th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Dear Shawn,
I’m a Florida resident for 18 years and I have two grandchildren with me that are disabled due to autism.
Can you tell me when and how do my grandchildren benefit
from the autism bill passing?
Thank you,
Edward VerVane
ed3@netzero.net
May 25th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Crist is using this bill to set himself up as the “compassionate, but true conservative” VP pick…As other groups of disabled citizens are left out unfairly with no coverage…and Florida’s educational and social programs get flushed down the tubes. But hey, that’s politics…