A bipartisan group of more than 30 state lawmakers is backing a pair of new Statehouse bills that would make it mandatory for insurance companies to provide coverage for autism treatment.
Thirty-two states — including every state in the Midwest, except Ohio — have laws requiring insurance companies to provide diagnostic and therapy services for autism, a neurological disorder that now affects one in every 88 children, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That rate was one in every 150 children just five years ago.
But autism treatment services, without the aid of some form of insurance, are expensive and unaffordable for many families. The Ohio Department of Education says it alone spends more than $250 million a school year on children with autism. The bills introduced this month would promote early intervention coverage.
“This is a critically important opportunity to get help and provide services for so many kids and adults” who need them but aren’t getting them, said Doug Krinsky, a Columbus volunteer for Autism Speaks, the national advocacy organization pushing for a bill here. “Ohio is absolutely past due for getting this done.”
It isn’t as if lawmakers haven’t tried before. An autism insurance parity bill cleared the Democratic-controlled Ohio House in the previous General Assembly but stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The chief concern then: heavy opposition from business groups, like the National Federation of Independent Businesses, or NFIB, and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
That hasn’t changed.
“The reality is it is going to drive up the cost of health care coverage,” said Keith Lake, director of government affairs for the Ohio Chamber. “Health insurance premiums are going to go up and that is going to mean higher health care costs for employers who are trying to provide coverage for their employees.”
Roger Geiger, executive director of NFIB Ohio, said in addition to adding costs, the bills also unfairly target small businesses. The proposals do not pertain to state insurance plans, like Medicaid, and larger companies offer insurance plans regulated federally that can’t be touched by state legislation.
“The reality is when you exempt Medicaid and can’t regulate the big companies, then this only affects one-third of the insurance market — small businesses,” he said. “So, we struggle with this idea of equity.”
Geiger predicted this legislation could force a few small businesses to stop offering insurance coverage at all to their employees.
“Do you want to have basic coverage for many or Cadillac coverage for a few?” Geiger asked. “That is what we contend these mandates do — they provide Cadillac coverage for a few and have an unintended consequence of forcing some to not be able to offer anything.”
But supporters say the cost issue is overblown. Autism Speaks, which has pushed for similar legislation across the country, released a study in December of five states that already require autism insurance coverage: South Carolina, Illinois, Florida, Arizona and Kentucky.
The study found that the additional average cost per employee, per month in those five states was 15 cents in year one and 31 cents in year two.
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