We had some exciting news last week, as the Arizona Autism Insurance Bill (officially known as SB1263, and commonly called Steven's Law) passed through the Health & Appropriations Committee by unanimous vote. This was no due to the large support shown by our local parents, friends and families, who turned up en masse to the candlelight vigil and to the committee hearings at the capitol. My guess is that the large support for the bill helped the committee to realize the long-term benefit of getting more children more therapy, and at an earlier age.

The bill has yet to be passed into law, but the unanimous vote is a good sign.

Here are some additional facts, articles, and opinions (mine), in no particular order..

Highlights – beginning January 1, 2009, insurance companies will be required to cover Speech, OT, PT, ABA (behavioral therapy), Diagnosis, and Psychiatric/Psychological care.

AZCentral.com's coverage. Here's an article describing what went down last week.

State Senate. Here's a link to the bill's fact sheet from the State Senate's web site.

Loophole – Large Employers Only. This bill will mandate coverage for group plans for employers with more than 50 employees. That's a terrific start, but Arizona's economy is driven by small businesses – there will be a very large number of families who are unaffected by this bill. (mine included. As a self-employed Realtor, I don't currently have a group plan for more than 50 people.)

Restricted Coverage. It's great to see coverage for the basics (speech, ot, pt, aba), but some of Calvin's biggest gains have come from the 'non-traditional' providers: Neurologic Music Therapy Services of Arizona has been our rock – Calvin's most important hour each week since he was 2 years old; dieticians & allergists, biomedical, vitamin supplements, and homeopathic remedies will also not be covered.

Overall this is a gigantic win for both the ASD community and the State of Arizona. I do hope, however, that over time the coverage is expanded to include more families and more treatments. I also think we're going to see a change in the supply & demand equilibrium when this goes into effect next year, with some short term pain but long term benefits, but that's a topic for another post...