From
The Star-Ledger. In the picture, Home therapist Dana Bickers prompts Tommy
Duddy for a high-five after clipping his fingernails.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- New Jersey became the 15th state today to enact a law requiring insurance companies to cover the screening and therapeutic treatment for children up to age 21 who are diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities.
The legislation overcame the opposition of business associations and insurance companies, who've predicted the measure will make health coverage unaffordable. Insurers have denied coverage for speech, occupational, physical and behavioral therapies because they deemed it "educational," not medical in nature, or because the therapy would not restore a child's ability to speak if the child never could speak at all.
Gov. Jon Corzine today signed into law August 13 expansions in coverage for autism and developmental disability treatment.
But as the evidence of autism's pervasiveness hit home for New Jersey, that has the highest rate of the disability in the nation, momentum for the bill grew. One in 94 children in New Jersey is diagnosed with autism, compared to the one in 150 children in the nation.
"There is no justification, no rationalization, that makes it possible to turn our backs on people who have so much love in their hearts for their children,'' Corzine told a packed room of teary-eyed families, lawmakers and hospitals officials at the pSE&G Children's Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.
Assembly Speaker and bill sponsor Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) said the bill tries to be fair to business interests by setting limits on some spending. Applied behavioral analysis, a popular autism therapy, is capped at $36,000 up until 2011, and will rise in later years based on the consumer price index, according to the bill. The bill takes effect in February 2010.
"The economics are just as persuasive an argument'' to support the bill, Roberts said, noting it costs about $13,000 to educate a child in public school compared to $50,000 for a child in special education. These therapies already enable many toddlers to bypass some special education programs.
"The savings we have year in and out is extraordinary,'' Robert said.
Sue Russo of Pennington, who attended the bill signing, said she's glad other families won't have to battle with insurance companies like she has had to do. And she's only gotten partial coverage for her 5-year-old daughter Julia's treatment, known as Applied Behavioral Analysis.
But the fight has been worth it, Russo said. Julia gets the treatment four times a week to help her develop communication and social skills.
"It has helped her come out of her world and into ours,'' Russo said. "She has a lot to offer.''
This is Corzine's third bill-signing this week. On Wednesday, he enacted legislation that requires insurance companies to reimburse for maternity services faster and permits nurse midwives to certify the medical conditions for pregnant women seeking disability. On Tuesday, Corzine signed a bill that would give families legal standing to ask a judge to require their immediate family members with severe mental illness undergo treatment.
From The Star-Ledger. In the picture, Home therapist Dana Bickers prompts Tommy Duddy for a high-five after clipping his fingernails.
