By Jason Noble of the Kansas City Star
Gov. Jay Nixon appeared Thursday with several Missouri lawmakers to call for prompt passage of a bill requiring coverage of autism treatments.
“Families must have access to both the diagnosis of autism and the best therapies to treat the condition,” said Nixon, a Democrat.
House Speaker Ron Richard, a Republican, promised quick action and said he would support the bill that ultimately emerges from the House.
“Whatever the final product is that’s sent out to the Senate, that’s what I’ll support,” Richard said.
His support is a turnabout from the last legislative session, when a similar bill breezed through the Senate but failed in the House after Richard declined to bring it to the floor for debate.
At the time, Richard said he did not believe the bill had a “strong consensus.”
Since then, however, an interim committee has begun building consensus among families, insurance providers and small businesses that may be affected, said Kristen Blanchard, a spokeswoman for Richard.
Identical bills were filed in the House and Senate this week requiring state-regulated health insurance carriers — about a third of the overall market — to cover the diagnosis and treatment of autism, a neurological disorder that affects communication and social skills.
The key sections require insurers to cover up to $72,000 a year for applied behavior analysis therapy, an intensive treatment that doctors and families say is effective for young children diagnosed with the disorder.
“What the therapies really mean for families … is the difference between whether or not a mother can take her daughter to a movie, or a dad can take his son to a ball game,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt, a St. Louis County Republican and the father of a child with autism.
The legislation also includes a waiver allowing small businesses to ignore the mandate if they can prove that autism coverage has led to an increase in premiums of 5 percent or more.
Backers expect continued opposition from insurance companies, which argue that a mandate will raise premiums and force others to give up their insurance.
“It sounds like a special interest may, if the legislation is passed, get served at a high price tag to others who are struggling to pay their premiums,” said Calvin Call, executive director of the Missouri Insurance Coalition.
Call said his organization estimates that premiums could rise as much as 3 percent.
But the bill’s supporters, who estimate that premiums would rise by less than 1 percent, are undeterred.
“We think … that this will be the year that we’re going to get something and it will be meaningful,” said Sen. Scott Rupp, a Republican and the bill’s sponsor.
“It won’t be a watered-down version that the insurance industry is hoping for.”
