AutismOregon.org

Senate Bill 1568 came before public testimony on Friday, February 10th. Testifying on behalf of the bill (which would cover Applied Behavior Analysis amongst other treatments) were Dr. Robin McCooy, Melanie Shaw, Tobi Rates, and Paul Terdal. The insurance industry thinks they might come to an agreement by 2013.

http://oregoncapitolnews.com/blog/2012/02/13/health-insurance-coverage-f...

On Monday, November 28th, at 9:00 AM, OPB’s Think Out Loud program will feature a segment on Medical Treatment for Autism. (The show will be rebroadcast at 9:00 PM that evening).

Paul Terdal will be a guest, as will Lisa McHenry, the plaintiff in the McHenry v PacificSource case. PacificSource and the Oregon Insurance Division have also been invited to participate.

http://www.autismvotes.org/site/c.frKNI3PCImE/b.6376831/k.ACFC/CARA.htm

The U.S. Senate last night voted the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (CARA) out of Congress by unanimous consent and on to the President's desk. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the bill, HR.2005, last week. CARA would authorize a total of $693 million on continued biomedical and treatment research on autism and require further development of an overall strategic plan for the intensification, expansion and better coordination of federal efforts designed to help persons with autism and their families.

I've been watching autism legislation bills come and go for years. This is the first time I have heard of an insurance company (northwest nonprofit) recommend making the bill better for people with autism. According to an email from Paul Terdal, "PacificSource insurance announced that they 'had been on the wrong side of this issue in the past' and proposed an alternate amendment that refined some of the details of the language, and raised the age limit on ABA from age 11 to age 18.

An Oregon parent reports that the Autism Health Insurance Reform bill has been formally introduced into the Oregon legislature.

On September 28th, a federal court judge in Portland ruled in favor of the McHenry family in their suit against PacificSource, ordering the insurance company to cover the cost of ABA treatment for their 6-year old son with autism. The ruling was based in large part on Oregon's existing Mental Health Parity law, and included many critical decisions:

* ABA therapy is not experimental or investigational in nature and PacificSource lacked a reasonable basis for reaching the opposite conclusion

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