As we step up and make our voices count by voting, I encourage you to make yourselves heard about insurance reform for autism as well. Paul Terdal has worked tirelessly to keep Oregon families updated on autism insurance reform at this site.
The state of Washington is going through major transformation as the Washington Supreme Court ruled that Regence pay for neurodevelopmental therapies (speech, occupational, and physical therapy) as a treatment for autism, without age limits. Regence had been providing coverage, but imposed an age limit of 6 beyond which coverage was denied whether medically necessary or not. View the official ruling here.
Unfortunately, this settlement with Regence applies to Washington only – in Oregon, Regence continues to issue denials of ABA, despite the Insurance Commissioner’s statements and draft bulletins declaring this to be illegal. The state of Oregon’s Judge Simon reached a similar conclusion with Oregon’s Mental Health Parity in AF v Providence case. As Oregon continues to work on this issue, you can find bulletins here. Please stay tuned for calls to action as we unite to obtain coverage for autism in Oregon.
Thank you for your support, families.
Angie Kopshy, MM, MT-BC
Big Sky Music Therapy 