Should Health Insurance Cover Autism?

This is a question which has been tossed around extensively, especially during the past couple of years. It has been sort of like watching a tennis match, with parents and school districts asking for assistance and support from the insurance companies and the insurance companies lobbing the ball back to the other side of the court.

There is a good reason why insurance companies are being looked to for paying at least a portion of treatment for children who have autism. Autism is not only an educational issue, but it is also a medical one. To quote one spokesperson from Autism Speaks, a national organization that helps with research and awareness for autism, children with autism are “diagnosed by a neurologist [or other physician], not a schoolteacher.”

Again, this is not to say that autism is not an educational issue because it is. However, the educational issues brought about by autism are the symptoms and results of the disorder itself, which is a medical issue.

Insurance companies have managed to skirt the issue for a long time because schools had to deal with the symptoms and help educate children who had difficulties learning due to autism. The problem is that this does not really make sense and it is not fair.

If a child is born with a hearing disorder and needs implants or with partial or total blindness and needs special assistance, though schools help with their educational programs, it is doctors who diagnose and treat the child’s medical issues and the insurance companies who pay for the treatment, since the parents are paying for medical coverage.

It is only fair, say Autism advocates and parents, that the same be true for children with autism, which can be very expensive to treat and should not be paid for by the schools and out of the pockets of parents who are paying insurance premiums.

Several states have made it mandatory for insurance companies to cover at least a fair portion of autism treatment, and advocates are now asking lawmakers to make it mandatory for twenty more states to do the same.

With autism affecting at least 1 out of every 150 children and creating a financial hardship on many parents and families, it is time for all parties involved - especially insurance companies - to come to the table to look at realistic and reasonable solutions to the issue of covering treatment for autism.