See below for the bill numbers, current status according to the Mississippi State Legislature website, title, references to applied behavior analysis and providers of those services as found in the bill texts, access to the full bill text and status/history.
- SB 2055
Referred to Senate Insurance Committee1/6/10
Title: AN ACT TO REQUIRE HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE, INCLUDING COVERAGE UNDER THE STATE AND SCHOOL EMPLOYEES HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN, FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS; TO DEFINE "AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER" AS AN AUTISTIC DISORDER, ASPERGER'S SYNDROME, OR PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
Provider of applied behavior analysis services not specified, nor the competencies of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. An "Autism services provider" is specified as "any person, entity or group that provides treatment of autism spectrum disorders"
- SB 2129
Referred to Senate Insurance Committee1/6/10
Title: AN ACT TO REQUIRE HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE, INCLUDING COVERAGE UNDER THE STATE AND SCHOOL EMPLOYEES HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN, FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS; TO DEFINE "AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER" AS AN AUTISTIC DISORDER, ASPERGER'S SYNDROME, OR PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
Provider of applied behavior analysis services not specified, nor the competencies of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. An "Autism services provider" is specified as "any person, entity or group that provides treatment of autism spectrum disorders"
- SB 2175
Referred to Senate Insurance Committee 1/6/10
Title: AN ACT TO REQUIRE ALL HEALTH INSURANCE POLICIES TO PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS IN INDIVIDUALS LESS THAN 21 YEARS OF AGE; TO PROVIDE THAT COVERAGE SHALL BE SUBJECT TO A CERTAIN MAXIMUM BENEFIT PER YEAR; TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH TO ESTABLISH STANDARDS TO BE UTILIZED BY MANAGED CARE PLANS FOR THE CREDENTIALING OF AUTISM SERVICE PROVIDERS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
Provider of applied behavior analysis services not specified, nor the competencies of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. An "Autism services provider" is specified as "any person, entity or group that provides treatment of autism spectrum disorders" AND, "any care for individuals with autism spectrum disorders that is determined by the Department of Mental Health, based upon its review of best practices or evidence-based research that is medically necessary and that is properly promulgated under regulations establishing standards for qualified autism services providers. Once the regulations are promulgated, payment for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders covered under this section shall only be made to autism services providers who meet the standards."
- SB 2363
Referred to Senate Insurance Committee 1/11/2010
Title: AN ACT TO REQUIRE HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS; TO DEFINE "AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER" AS AN AUTISTIC DISORDER, ASPERGER'S SYNDROME, OR PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
Provider of applied behavior analysis services not specified, nor the competencies of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. An "Autism services provider" is specified as "any person, entity or group that provides treatment of autism spectrum disorders".
- SB2607
Referred to Senate Insurance Committee 1/14/10
AN ACT TO REQUIRE HEALTH INSURANCE POLICIES THAT PROVIDE 1 BENEFITS FOR NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS TO PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR THE 2 TREATMENT OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
ABA not specified. Practitioner not specified
Same language as HB 1496.
- HB 1496
Referred to House Insurance Committee 1/18/10
AN ACT TO REQUIRE HEALTH INSURANCE POLICIES THAT PROVIDE 1 BENEFITS FOR NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS TO PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR THE 2 TREATMENT OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
Same language as SB 2607.
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For more information/related
Autism Votes - Mississippi
Mississippi State Legislature
Caring for Mississippi Children and Families with Autism
Task Force Report December 2007
p. 26, "...Private Insurance Reform
"...Nationally, there are very few private insurance companies or other employee benefit plans that cover behavioral and other needed therapies. Most insurance companies designate autism as a diagnostic exclusion, “meaning that any services rendered explicitly for the treatment of autism are not covered by the plan, even if those services would be covered if used to treat a different condition.” A 2002 study by Pamela B. Peele and others of 128 behavioral health plans administered by one of two large managed behavioral health organizations found that all the plans had some type of limit on benefits for behavioral therapies – over half of the plans had limits on the number of annual outpatient sessions and 65 percent of the plans imposed limits on the number of inpatient days covered per year. As noted through out this report, parents report that most Mississippi ’s children with ASD are denied coverage outright or their treatment for any specific autism condition is automatically excluded. Parents can often spend upwards of $50,000 per year on autism-related therapies, often being forced to venture their own futures and the futures of their non-autistic children to pay for vital autism-related therapies. Children whose parents cannot afford to pay for behavioral and other therapies simply go without these interventions. Sadly, the progress these children will make is usually quite limited.
The Mississippi Legislature should enact, and the Governor of Mississippi should sign into law, legislation modeled after South Carolina's Ryan's Law. South Carolina ’s legislation, was passed by both the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate on May 31, 2007. The bill was then vetoed by Governor Mark Sanford on June 6. On June 7, the bill was brought back to the House and Senate floors, and unanimous votes in both chambers overrode the Governor's veto. This law goes into effect in July 2008. The legislation provides:
-Treatments, including behavioral therapies, which are prescribed by the individual’s
treating medical doctor in accordance with a treatment plan;
-An individual must be diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder at age eight or
younger. The coverage must be provided to any eligible person less than sixteen
years of age; and
-Coverage for behavioral therapy is subject to a $50,000 maximum benefit per year..."
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
