Just attended an excellent presentation by Lorri Unumb at Belmont Law School on “Legislating Autism Coverage: The Conservative Insurance Mandate.” She is Vice President of State Government Affairs for Autism Speaks and a stellar advocate for requiring (by legislation) insurers to provide applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy. Her personal story (and success) was compelling. Tennessee (and other deep South states) have not, unfortunately, passed model legislation to require autism coverage. Lawsuits, however, also offer a way to require such coverage. The 11th Circuit found that ABA autism therapy was medically necessary under Medicaid and litigation in other states has also been successful, particularly in the State of Washington.
If you have been denied insurance coverage for your autistic child, click here to contact us for a confidential case review. For more on autism go here: https://www.autismspeaks.org
