As someone with an Autistic son, this issue concerns me gravely. However, I went to the bill and confirmed what you posted but I still don’t understand the implications!
And I’ve been through the ringer when it comes to legalize regarding Special Needs kids.
And autism is very prevalent in our time, at least 1 in every 150 to 200 children, @ least that is what they say in the ads. This effects a large group of citizenry.
OK. Perhaps I’m a bit dense tonight.
My interpretation of sec 1176 is that Special Needs individuals will not be able to sign up for medical assistance until the annual enrollment period. Not a big deal. I’ve seen others dealing with issue already. The government will make exceptions when necessary. Hoops, paperwork and begging, yes but that goes on with school districts and insurance companies too.
Section 1177 sounds more incidious than it would be in practice. Again, I’m basing that on my experience with a couple of school districts as well as the experience of many other special needs parents.
Essentially, you will need a psychologist to justify why a child/adult qualifies as Special Needs. Can they be turned down? Yes, and there will be a process for reapplication.
To tell the truth, I’m not as worried about some government contracted shrink telling me my child doesn’t qualify, I’m more concerned with these contractors being untrained and allowing children/adults to get a stake in benefits that should be limited to truly handicapped people. I can see a future where someone with Dyslexia gets the same benefit as someone that is profoundly Autistic. This will bankrupt the treasury lickity-split.
We can’t afford a future where some lawyer can argue for benefits for just about anything. The lawyer gets paid for lobbying whatever government contracted functionary and the functionary gets to expand her empire because she’s handing out free money to all comers.