The Bay Area is a cradle of environmentalism and a region with a rich trove of health and medical research and resources. In this blog, we’ll report on the deepening understanding of how the places we inhabit and the lifestyles we adopt contribute to our own health and the health of our communities.
"I am thrilled about the enactment of this landmark piece of legislation that will help thousands and thousands of families and children in California struggling with this devastating medical condition," said Kristin Jacobson of Burlingame, president of the advocacy group Autism Deserves Equal Coverage. "It will enable them to get the care that they need and pay for."
Health insurers had long resisted covering the treatments, claiming that the are not medical, but educational. "We are disappointed in the signing of SB 946 and deeply concerned about the precedent it sets for coverage of non-medical services," said Patrick Johnston, president of the California Association of Health Plans, which had lobbied against the bill, in the statement.
In July, Blue Shield of California and Anthem Blue Cross, under pressure from state regulators, agreed to reimburse some costs for the treatments. Yet, that agreement contained a loophole allowing insurance companies to deny payments to many of the current treatment providers. The new law closes that loophole, too.
"The science clearly shows that treating the mind through behavioral therapy is no different than treating a broken arm or a heart condition," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who sponsored the legislation, in a statement commending Gov. Brown for signing the bill.
Yet, Gov. Jerry Brown, in his signing statement, struck a note of caution: "While this bill provides relief for families of autistic children and some clarity for health plans, insurers and providers, there are remaining questions about effectiveness, duration, and the cost of the covered treatments that must be sorted out."
As federal healthcare reform kicks in, "essential health benefits" will be established nationally to determine what treatments must be covered, Gov. Brown noted. If those benefits do not include such behavioral treatment for autism, the new California law will automatically expire and insurers will no longer be required to cover the treatments.
Jacobson of Autism Deserves Equal Coverage said that she expects that the federal benefits package will include the treatments.
In late September, more than 100 parents and siblings of Bay Area children with autism rallied in Berkeley to ask Gov. Brown to sign the bill. Nearly 60,000 California children -- including almost 10,000 in the Bay Area -- receive special-education services for autism, according to data from the state's Department of Education, as The Bay Citizen has reported.
© The Bay Citizen, 2012
