AutismOregon.org

A Hope For Autism Foundation has had the opportunity to help a family in need of services. It has been our passion to provide quality evidenced based services to families for many years, and it has finally happened. Please visit our website, ahopeforautism.org for further details. We look forward to serving many more families.

Dear Oregon Autism Families and Advocates,

Our state of Oregon has a legislative session every two years.
This Spring, states all around us -

* New Mexico,
* Montana,
* Colorado and, as recently as this past weekend,
* Nevada,

have passed autism insurance reform legislation to provide their states' children with autism access to therapy coverage through health insurance. We can make this happen for our kids too but it'll take action by all of us to call Oregon House Rules Committee Chair Arnie Roblan and Oregon House Speaker Dave Hunt!
Unless we get some significant traction on Oregon HB 3000 NOW, Oregon's children with autism will have to wait another two years before reform legislation can even be introduced again. HB 3000 provides coverage for medically necessary, evidence based therapies and treatments prescribed by your child's treating physician including ABA therapy, speech and OT.
TODAY is the moment to ACT to get HB 3000 out of the House Rules Committee and onto the floor of the Oregon House so that the legislative process can continue. It is very easy and only takes five minutes of your time each day--everyone's help is needed!

HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP!

An ACTION ALERT from Autism Votes to CALL
the members of the Oregon House Rules Committee.

"...it is possible that HB 3000 [the autism insurance reform bill] will be heard in the Oregon House Rules Committee THIS WEEK. We need to refresh our Representatives' minds about autism insurance reform and ask them to vote YES on HB 3000..."

See full message below for phone numbers and followup.
(For more info on HB 3000, see Oregon Autism Insurance Reform Blog on HB 3000 and Autism Votes Oregon page )
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5/19/09 Autism Votes... It's time for lawmakers to listen.

Dear Oregon Autism Advocate,

It has been a while since we sent out a reminder but we just heard that it is possible that HB 3000 will be heard in the Rules Committee this week. We need to refresh our Representatives minds about autism insurance reform and ask them to vote YES on HB 3000.

We must pass the Rules Committee and then HB 3000 is on it's way to the House floor for a vote and one step closer to becoming a law! If the bill does not get out of the Rules Committee, we will not be able to get appropriate coverage for our children until the next session in 2011.

We need your help to make some noise and let the committee know how very much you want this bill to pass on through the legislative process! They are hearing from the insurance companies...they need to hear from you!

Here is How You Can Help:

There have been some premature and erroneous rumors that HB 3000, the Autism Insurance Reform bill is no longer active--these are not true. The bill is still in the House Rules Committee and still in play. If fact, there is a current ACTION ALERT: Take Action on HB 3000 to move it from Rules Committee to the House Floor!

I took some notes from the Autism Day at the Oregon State Capitol on April 29, 2009. Overall it was well worth the visit and time. Some specifics:

Katherine Weit did a great job with keeping the information flowing. She updated us on current bills:
1. HB 2009 Major health reform legislation. One of many such bills this legislative session
2. HB 2116 Health care for all children
3. HB 2144 Children's Wraparound
4. HB 2507 Creates an extended diploma, increases access to transition services
5. HB 2599 A Bullying legislation

I wrote my Representative asking her to support HB 3000 and received a very prompt and informative email back. I hope she doesn't mind that I pass it onto others that might benefit from the information (much of which is new to me - I really should keep up better).

Here is part of Rep. Gelser's email:

HB 3000 Would End Health Care Discrimination Against Children with Autism by Requiring Coverage of Diagnosis and Treatment

Salem, OR (March 31, 2009) – Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism advocacy organization, today announced its support for House Bill 3000, the autism insurance reform bill. The legislation would require private health insurance companies to cover the screening, diagnosis, testing and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for individuals up to the age of 21. The maximum benefit would be $36,000 per year.

Governor Kulongoski has signed Executive Order NO. 09-07, creating the Oregon Autism Commission!

This is the result of months of work by members of the Oregon Autism Project and informed by the testimony of many of you during our statewide tour. It was the stories each of you shared that have helped lead to today’s signing. Attached is a copy of the Executive Order language.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The parents of two 10-year-old boys who believe vaccines caused their sons to develop autism brought their case to U.S. federal court on Monday, arguing a mercury preservative in the shots caused a rare reaction.

Their case is the second of three being heard by a special court trying to determine if autism might sometimes be caused by vaccines. Although most medical experts say there is no link, the court can rule there is a plausible association and allow parents of children with autism to get federal compensation from a special vaccine fund.

Did you ever wonder why an autism organization didn't have nationwide fundraising efforts like the Multiple Sclerosis Association, Juvenile Diabetes Association, Children's Miracle Network and many others? Why big box stores didn't have huge drives to raise funds for autism?

Well no more. I walked into the new T.J. Max store in Corvallis and low and behold they are pushing every single buyer to donate. My mouth almost fell on the floor. I couldn't help but donate $5 - I was proud. Our causes are finally making the big time.