Great post, Susan! And you're right -- it can be a real challenge to get insurance coverage for the kinds of therapy that children with Autism need. I went through a real nightmare of red tape when I tried to get Cigna to cover my child's occupational therapy for developmental difficulties related to Asperger's Syndrome, which is a high functioning type of Autism. It took months of fighting and literally going to the very top of the company in order to finally receive partial o.t. coverage. And then to receive funding from the state for what Cigna wouldn't cover, we had to list the diagnosis as "mental retardation," because for some reason in the state of Arizona, you can get occupational therapy covered if you have a diagnosis of mental retardation, but not if you have been diagnosed with Autism. Go figure.
Good for the State of Virginia. Hopefully that kind of forward thinking will spread to the west as well.
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Great post, Susan! And you're right -- it can be a real challenge to get insurance coverage for the kinds of therapy that children with Autism need. I went through a real nightmare of red tape when I tried to get Cigna to cover my child's occupational therapy for developmental difficulties related to Asperger's Syndrome, which is a high functioning type of Autism. It took months of fighting and literally going to the very top of the company in order to finally receive partial o.t. coverage. And then to receive funding from the state for what Cigna wouldn't cover, we had to list the diagnosis as "mental retardation," because for some reason in the state of Arizona, you can get occupational therapy covered if you have a diagnosis of mental retardation, but not if you have been diagnosed with Autism. Go figure.
Good for the State of Virginia. Hopefully that kind of forward thinking will spread to the west as well.
October 22, 2008 - 2:16pmThis Comment
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