Columnist: CA autism insurance ruling isn’t fair
March 12th, 2009
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Sandy Banks slams a ruling by California regulators that insurance companies must pay for speech, occupational and physical therapies for kids with autism, but not for their behavioral therapies.
An excerpt:
State law says insurers must cover mental and behavior disorders the same way they cover other medical conditions. So a depressed teenager can get a psychologist’s ear, and a kid who smokes pot gets rehab treatment — and that is as it should be.
But an autistic child doesn’t merit a professional’s help to learn how to share a crayon or ask a classmate for a play date? That doesn’t seem fair to me. Or to their families.
Earlier post here.

