A decade ago, autism, a developmental disorder that can chronically alter a child’s social interactions, communication and learning skills, and behavior, was a rare and poorly understood disorder. The diagnosis came with few treatment options and poor prognosis for improvement. Children who never learned to speak or care for themselves were sometimes institutionalized.
However, as the number of autism cases increases, so does the recognition that early behavioral intervention is effective in helping many children; some advocates even claim intensive therapy can remove mild autistic symptoms all together. But this therapy does not come without problems, the biggest being cost. Autism is the fastest growing serious developmental disorder and runs the nation over $90 billion dollars a year. According to Autism Speaks, a national non-profit, this amount is expected to double in the next decade. Who will pay for the increasing demand for care?
Insurance Coverage Lacking
Currently, there is no cure for autism. However, behavioral therapy has promise as an effective, if involved, treatment. Amanda Baggs, a twenty-seven year old autistic woman, can’t speak, but she can communicate, given the tools to do so—a video camera and a computer with a synthesized voice that can articulate what’s going on inside her mind. Similarly, Carly Fleischmann, a severely autistic girl, learned to type and speak through a computer after years of intensive therapy.
Even though most clinicians and researchers agree that early, intensive therapy—such as teaching behavioral skills and positive reinforcement—make a big difference in an autistic person’s overall outcome, most private insurance companies don’t cover it. In fact, autism is usually an excluded diagnosis, even though treatments are often covered under other diagnoses.
This results in many parents having to pay for care on their own, which can sometimes involve speech, behavioral, and auditory specialists. In his paper, “The Costs of Autism,” Michael Ganz, Assistant Professor of Society, Human Development, and Health at Harvard School of Public Health, estimates that direct and indirect (such as reduced work hours) costs of caring for an autistic child can run parents between $39,000 to nearly $130,000 a year.
