EBD Blog

Last December, Delegates Robert Marshall and colleagues of the legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia (US) introduced a bill that would require health insurance companies to pay costs of habilitative services for children and youths. A potential effect of the legislation is that families of children with Autism would be able to receive support for the costs of intensive behavior therapy in the their homes.

The legislation defines “habilitative services” as “health and social services directed toward increasing and maintaining the physical, intellectual, emotional, and social functioning of developmentally delayed individuals, including occupational, physical, and speech therapy; assistance, training, supervision, and monitoring in the areas of self-care, sensory and motor development, interpersonal skills, communication, and socialization; and reduction or elimination of maladaptive behavior.” The legislation refines the term by referring to “medically necessary habilitative services” as “habilitative services that are certified by the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services as designed to help an individual attain or retain the capability to function age appropriately within the individual’s environment and shall include habilitative services that enhance functional ability without effecting a cure.”

The Loudoun Project, a network of volunteers concerned about Autism, sponsored the Loudoun County Autism Summit in July of 2008; the summit focused on generating support for this legislation. The group has multiple recommendations about supporting the legislation:

a) Contact members of the Special Advisory Board on Mandated Health Insurance Benefits by email and/or phone by 8/15 (Tab 1 in Targeted Legislators attachment)
b) Contact legislative members of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission by email and/or phone by 8/22 (Tab 2 in Targeted Legislators attachment)
c) Write a letter for the record to: florence.morris@scc.virginia.gov by 8/15.
d) Attend the Public Hearing on HB-83 in Richmond on Monday, September 29 at 1pm (General Assembly Bldg, House Rm D).
e) Register for www.autismvotes.org to get alerts to activate our grassroots efforts.
f) Pass the word to other friends, family, co-workers, church groups, etc to make calls/send emails and do actions a)-e) above.

The Loudoun Project also has an on-line petition regarding the legislation.

Link to the Virginia legislation. Link to the Loudon Project and the Loudoun County Autism Summit. Read a letter from Jane Barbin of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment about the legislation. Read Alex Bahr coverage of the summit under the headline “Parents, Professionals Share Experiences At Autism Summit” from the paper Leesburg Today.