Who pays for autism treatment?

A sad, but true situation. Article from the Los Angeles Time.



By the time Andrew Arce was 15 months old, his parents suspected he was autistic. He refused to cuddle, flapped his arms and stared into space a lot. On occasion, he picked at his nose until it drew blood and, with it, smeared the walls of the family's Pasadena town house.

It was nearly a year, Guillermo Arce said, before Kaiser Permanente, the family's healthcare provider, confirmed their fears. The diagnosis wasn't much help, though. Kaiser refused to provide most of the treatment that specialists said Andrew needed -- until the state ordered it to in April. Last month, Andrew, now 2 1/2 years old, began getting the disputed treatment -- including individual training in how to eat and play."He is still young," his father said. "He will always be autistic, but maybe he could be fully functioning."



Guillermo Arce's battle is a window on a political and legal struggle playing out across the country amid a surge in diagnoses of autism. Parents, insurers and the government are tussling over who is going to pay for treatment.



For more go to: Los Angeles Times -- July 6, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-autism6-2008jul06,0,2622696,full.story