Arizona Covers ABA
Parents of children with have fought with insurance companies for years to get coverage of simple things like sensory integration therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and so forth. However, insurance companies won’t pay because autism is not curable and is a developmental disorder.
The most controversial coverage is ABA, a therapy used to help teach children with autism social and daily living skills like looking someone in the eye, brushing their teeth, or waving goodbye. ABA is controversial because of its heavy price tag.
Studies have shown that ABA is successful in generating creative behavior, spontaneous language, and improving behavior in children with autism. So, theoretically, if a child receives ABA therapy in early intervention and reaps all of the benefits, he/she will not need expensive therapies later in life.
Because children with autism need up to 30-40 hours of intervention per week families can end up paying upwards of 50,000 out of pocket for treatments like speech, OT, and physical therapy. Most insurance companies will not even cover biomedical therapies even though they are typically medical in nature.
Several states have started to pass laws that require insurance providers to cover behavioral therapy for children with autism. As of December 27, 2007 three states had already passed autism insurance legislation; South Carolina, Texas, and Indiana. It requires private insurance companies to provide ABA (applied behavior analysis) and other behavioral treatments.
Arizona is the most recent state to join…but employers are not happy about it because they pick up the tab for it in the higher premiums.
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