Speech therapy bill easily clears House
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/05/12/d1.cr.autism.0512.p1.php?se...
Speech therapy bill easily clears House
By David Steves
The Register-Guard
Published: Saturday, May 12, 2007
SALEM - Rep. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, literally put a face to the issue of autism in the Oregon House of Representatives on Friday.
He did it by holding overhead an 8-by-11 photograph of his 5-year-old son.
Simon Edwards is one of the thousands of children with the disorder in a state that has more such diagnoses per capita than any other.
Before the House voted 53-0 to require health insurance to extend its coverage of speech therapy and other treatments to children with autism, mental retardation and other developmental disabilities, Edwards was among the legislators to speak on the bill.
"This guy, my son Simon, has autism," Edwards said while holding up his son's picture for the other representatives and guests in the House chamber to see.
Edwards is one of thousands of parents who could potentially benefit from House Bill 2918 if it becomes law. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
The bill is intended to help families get medical insurance coverage for the therapies that would benefit children with autism, mental retardation and other "pervasive developmental disorders."
The bill does so by prohibiting insurers from denying benefits to an enrollee who has been diagnosed with such a disorder. Edwards said the bill was necessary because many insurance policies cover occupational and speech therapy and other treatments for people with a brain injury, for example, but not those with autism.
Edwards said his family had personally run into the kind of problems the bill is meant to address. His insurance paid only for 30 minutes of speech therapy a week for Simon, which Edwards said wasn't enough. He and his wife looked into paying out of pocket for additional therapy sessions. "I can't remember the cost, except that we couldn't afford it," he said.
Edwards said the bill was meant to aid thousands of families whose children are part of a rapidly expanding population of young people diagnosed with autism, yet are struggling to secure the kind of response that past epidemics, such as polio, prompted from the medical system and the government.
According to the Oregon Department of Education, among people between the ages of 5 and 21, Lane County has 673 residents with autism. Based on those and comparable figures for other counties, Tim Mueller, an autism-awareness advocate, did some calculations to conclude that Lane County's school-aged population included one person with autism for every 91 people. That was the second highest ratio among every county. Marion County had the highest ratio, 1-to-75, said Mueller, who is with the Lane County chapter of the Autism Society of Oregon.