Employees of the city of Portland are pushing for more healthcare benefits, specifically benefits to cover family members with autism. And with so much funding needed, they’re not the only ones who should. Autism-related costs are a major concern for many people, and support for families and individuals dealing with autism should be a no-brainer.
Many of the details on this case are murky. The cost of this proposal on the city and taxpayers is unknown, as are the details of what the coverage would entail. Along with full coverage for autism, Senate Bill 1568 would quicken the process of obtaining care so that individuals would not have to first fill out extensive paperwork for six months or get a court order to receive it.
In a city as large as Portland, it is strange that employee healthcare covers something like sex reassignment surgery (SRS) but not the treatment, therapy and other medical-related expenses related to autism. Not to say that SRS should not be covered by employee healthcare—it should! But so should the cost of the various autism treatments.
Oregon law already requires medically necessary treatment for autism to be covered by employee healthcare, but many insurance providers restrict or deny said coverage. Currently PacificSource, Kaiser Permanente and Providence offer coverage for various treatments and care related to autism.
What is and is not covered by employee healthcare is decided upon by a 12-person board of union representatives and city administrators. The group’s ruling requires a 10-person consensus. The bill has yet to be voted on, but much support has been shown in terms of passing the bill and gaining the coverage.
When the committee decided on covering sex reassignment surgery for employees, the votes were unanimously in favor. Since sex reassignment surgery is a more controversial topic, one can suppose that coverage for autism will most likely be passed as well.
Autism is one part of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autism itself is a complex neurobiological disorders that generally lasts throughout an individual’s lifetime.
There are various kinds of autism, but most are characterized by degrees of impairment in communication skills, social abilities and repetitive behaviors.
One of the more common types of autism is Asperger’s Syndrome. Other disorders that fall under ASD include Rett Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder.
While autism is most often diagnosed around the ages of one to three, diagnosis in the teen years and above has also occurred, though it is very rare. Many pediatricians recommend child autism screenings as early as 16 months.
Autism is one of the most heavily diagnosed disorders affecting youth today, with prevalence continuously increasing. According to Autism Speaks, a national advocacy organization, more children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes and cancer combined.
Despite the high rate of diagnosis for autism, research and treatment is still very much under-funded. Statistically, autism affects one out of every 110 people, but it only gets around $79 million in private funding. While that amount may seem like a lot, leukemia, a form of cancer, affects one in 1,200 and gets $277 million in private funding.
It is important to remember that autism is just one of the many disorders affecting the world at this time. The higher diagnosis could be due in part to the fact that we have many more diseases than we did 30 years ago.
Everything has its own label now, and many of the symptoms are related directly to autism. While the lack in funding is disconcerting, it is sadly realistic to what the medical community faces every day: there just isn’t enough funding to go around.
That is why it is so important that treatment for autism-related health problems is covered by employee healthcare. With that coverage, families would be given some peace of mind regarding the diagnosis, treatment and day-to-day occurrences that go hand-in-hand with autism.
Since the decision on covering autism rests solely on a small committee, it will most likely be passed. If for some reason it isn’t, community advocacy will need to increase. Funding doesn’t just come out of nowhere, after all.
Autism Speaks holds “Walk Now for Autism” events all the time. The next one located in Portland isn’t until August of this year, but it’s already raised $500. With continued support from the community and private funding, think how much that amount could grow.
Reach out and do your part. Whether it’s through donating, volunteering, advocacy or telling community and city board members to support autism awareness, we can all do something.