So, I'm pissed.

OK, so our insurance has decided not to cover Chase's speech therapy any more. And, it was only a mistake that it was covered.

The reasoning is that being a pervasive disorder, the insurance company does not feel that autism is treatable. I pretty much had the nurse who reviewed and denied the request in tears. I said, "So, you're telling me that the insurance company believes that my son is a lost cause and that treatment is useless?" It's insulting and ridiculous.

So what about someone that has HIV? Are they going to start telling those people that they're really just a lost cause and don't deserve treatment because they're not ever going to get rid of it? Cancer? People would freak out and rally to have that covered, but not this. Why? Without help and serious intervention, we are losing our children. Why doesn't anyone seem to care about that?

This therapy has been a huge factor in Chase's progression with speaking. Before we started, he didn't say Momma or Daddy. Now he uses both. If we had been denied the coverage in the beginning, I would have accepted it more easily. It is in our plan wording that speech is just covered for stroke, head injury, and congenital anomalies. The reason that it was approved was that the person compared our diagnosis to the Medicaid covered diagnoses.

I have a serious problem with the fact that the State of Michigan dictates that for Medicaid, speech therapy is covered for diagnoses such as language delays, but Physicians Health Plan does not offer any plans that do not specifically exclude all Autism Spectrum Disorders. So, even if my company wanted their insurance to cover ASDs, they could not purchase a policy that covers it.

This is why the Speaker of the State House of Representatives in Pennsylvania has introduced a bill that will force health insurance providers to cover ASD therapies up to $3000 a month.

http://www.autismspeaks.org/press/pennsylvania_autism_bill.php

http://www.repobrien.com/?sectionid=75&sectiontree=75&itemid=417

I've written some emails to my local rep to try to get him to introduce some bill in Michigan. Of course I haven't got a message back yet. I'm going to try calling today.

Anyway, if anyone has any connections to your state government, please think about trying to help. If someone high up in our State government had a personal connection to an Autistic child, I guarantee that they would introduce a bill. It's such BS how government works. Personal agendas, not anything to do with the good of the children they represent.

OK, the rant is over... for now. I'm still pissed.