LEG. NEWS: New Hampshire autism insurance bill on the calendar for 2010

In November, 2009 The Concord Monitor reported on an autism insurance bill containing behavior analysis coverage, 
A push to cover autism therapy
KAREN LANGLEY
Monitor staff
November 13, 2009

The story reports that the bill, N.H. HB 569-FN: requiring insurance coverage for diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders, passed out of the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee on November 12,2009 and is expected to come to the New Hampshire House floor in 2010.

Some notable quotes from the story, made by Representatives from the House Committee,

Rep. Susi Nord, who led a subcommittee's research, saw the economic saving to New Hampshire as an attractive factor that eased passage in the Committee,

"...Access to appropriate treatments helps nearly half of autistic children develop typical social behaviors and an additional 40 percent make significant progress, according to a study by the national Autism Society. When the costs of those treatments are combined with the lifetime costs of services for the child, access to treatments saves $1.9 million per child. For children identified in New Hampshire, that's $597.8 million society won't pay, Nord told committee members yesterday.

'Rather than cutting out things that people actually need, we're cutting out needs that will be on the state," she said. "We should be making situations so people won't be depending on the state in the future'...."

 Another Representative, Rip Holden, agreed and saw the bill as a win-win.

"If these kids become productive citizens, not only have we helped them morally, but we've helped ourselves as a society," he said. "Not to sound crass, but they become taxpayers." 

The information from the New Hampshire General Court website on HB 569-FN is, that having come out of Committee, that the bill is anticipated to come to the House Floor on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 when the New Hampshire House reconvenes.

State of New Hampshire
HOUSE RECORD

Second Year of the 161st General Court

The Calendar and Journal of the 2010 Session
Vol. 32 , Concord, N.H. Thursday, December 10, 2009, No. 2
Contains:  Reports for January 6, Legislative Ethics Committee Interpretive Ruling, Hearings, Meetings and Notices

For HB 569-FN, the Majority report is (scan down the Calendar to find the reference),

"Rep. Susi Nord for the Majority of  Commerce and Consumer Affairs: This bill is a clarification of our existing mental health parity statute with regard to insurance coverage for children with autism.  The current statute includes autism as a covered condition; however medical bills for important aspects of the therapy are still not being paid by insurance companies.  The committee retained this bill and requested that the insurance department conduct a review of the status of coverage for treatment and found that certain types of treatment are being denied as “habilitative” (promoting a new behavior rather than repairing an already existing behavior).  The majority of the committee concluded, instead, that such treatments and therapies are in fact often necessary and vital aspects of treatment.  The amendment does not change the scope of the current statute or the ability of insurance companies to determine medical necessity nor does it shift the responsibility for the educational aspects of the therapy from the schools to the insurance companies or give children with autism greater coverage than those with other conditions.  The amendment states that behavioral therapy, speech and occupational therapy are to be covered along with the already-covered medications, health related services and psychiatric services when they are part of a written plan ordered by a doctor who is prescribing these therapies using a nationally recognized standard of care such as the standard of the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Requiring a written plan actually creates a higher level of scrutiny for coverage than currently exists.  There will be a minimal cost increase to the insurance industry (less than ½ of 1%) however the cost savings to the state and the local school districts over the life of the children who receive proper treatment averages just over $1.9 million per child.  This bill will ensure that children will receive proper care for their condition and will, as a result, use dramatically less assistance from the state.  For the entire covered population this translates to a savings of about $597 million to our school districts and DHHS.  At a time when we as legislators are under pressure to reduce costs in these areas, this bill is one way to do exactly that. [Committee vote] Vote 13-3."

-----------

Website: Practitioner Issues in Behavior Analysis SIG

-----------
Views and news expressed in this blog or by the PIBA SIG are those of the SIG or SIG members and do not represent official policy of ABA International or other official body. For official policy of the Association of Behavior Analysis International, the reader is directed to their website, http://www.abainternational.org