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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. John Pallone |
  
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Pallone disappointed in Senate-amended autism bill
HARRISBURG, June 30 – A bill (H.B. 1150) to require health insurance companies to provide coverage for diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder passed in the Senate Sunday night, but state Rep. John Pallone, D-Westmoreland, said the bill was amended in such a way that it would give insurance companies a way out of covering autism.
Pallone, a co-sponsor of H.B. 1150, released the following statement regarding the Senate changes to the bill:
"Every day more children are diagnosed with autism. Every day researchers find new ways of helping them reach their full potential. And every day parents are faced with the heartache of not being able to take advantage of those groundbreaking services because they can't afford them and their insurance companies won't cover them. House Bill 1150 as it was sent to the Senate would have given autistic children hope by requiring insurance companies doing business in Pennsylvania to pay for autism diagnosis and therapy because right now insurance companies are not stepping up to the plate to do the right thing.
"The Senate amended H.B. 1150 so that insurance companies would be allowed to define what is 'medically necessary' in terms of autism treatments. There is no cure for autism, and much of the treatment involves behavioral therapy, which insurance companies argue isn't medical care. This bill as amended by the Senate would do little to help children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder get the services they need.
"We must continue the fight to require insurance companies to cover autism services."
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