... so it is spoken, so it shall be ....
File under "Why health insurance costs so much."
1. I don’t have a problem with this legislatively, but this is another example of judges legislating from the bench.
2. TRULY autistic kids need the help if they are going to be productive later on in life. I don’t have an issue helping foot the bill for that miniscule population as a safety net (if passed on a legislative level). On the other hand, they now have autistic “spectrum” where they can pretty much label anyone as autistic that displays any signs of social akwardness. Look for the leeches to use this to get free daycare.
However, "The state already requires commercial carriers to provide the therapy, also called ABA, to Floridians with private insurance" if the therapy is questionable in its effectiveness, why are private insurers required to provide it?
Although I agree that the Medicaid program ought to include this treatment, I am troubled that a single judge has the power and authority to order the state to provide it simply because the judge thinks it is necessary when it has been deemed to be experimental apparently by a panel of experts.
The tyranny of the judiciary has run amok.
Full time ABA can cost $100,000 a year. It can be a good choice for some kids. In CA lawyers abound who sponge off the school districts and get them to pay for these treatments. But note that no district or state has that much money and one kid in 88 has autism. If a gourmet restaurant is ordered to keep giving away their steak dinners for free, you do realize the quality of the meat will go down. Right?
If the excerpt faithfully represents the facts of the case — that Florida was denying coverage based on the assertion that ABA therapy is experimental — then the case was rightly decided. My wife’s clinical internship in psychology included an autism rotation, and ABA treatments are hardly experimental. The particular form applied to autism, called discrete trial training, is the standard treatment for a variety of vexing disorders including the social skills deficits shown in autism (e.g. not being able to correctly interpret others’ facial expressions) to the inability to swallow found in young children who were on a feeding tube early in life. It is generally quite effective.
ABA is already and has been for years, in use in the state of NY. I work for a non profit agency that serves the developmentally disabled pop. and their behavioral needs are monitored by the applied behavioral analysts. It has long been an inside joke among those who have worked for years in this field, that the behavioral interventions literally do nothing to help the individual. Autism spectrum is one of those diagnoses that is deceptive as there is no medical test for the condition. Recently, however, those with Asperger’s syndrome, once a form of autism, are now deemed not eligible to be classified as autistic and are now in the category of “psychiatrically impaired.” NYS spent so much of the tax payer money on these programs in the past through the Medicaid system that now they have to implement another waiver into the spending bill and change the way the programs are funded. The problem is that even though one would hope that local charitable and familial help would provide adequate services for the kids with true autism, that almost never happens. Therefore, the school district has to step up to the plate and find services. There is just no easy answer.
They don't all turn out to be Temple Grandin. The whole thing has become another RAT union-employment-to-no-end scam. Meanwhile, the school is threatening their GATE program for gifted and talented education.