COLUMBUS, Ohio - It's a battle being fought by thousands of parents across the country, and Tera Viola of Ohio knows it all too well. Her five-year-old daughter, Faith, was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. Since then, Viola has been struggling to get her daughter the treatments she needs.
Faith receives a half-hour of speech therapy and a half-hour of occupational therapy a week. Viola, the autism support group leader for Lima County, says she fought hard to get her health-care provider to pay for it.
"As soon as she took autism off of the paperwork, they started covering everything. It's just that one word - they refuse to cover it."
Treatments related to autism can cost upwards of $50,000 a year, pushing many families to the brink of financial ruin. That could change under House Bill 8, which would prohibit health insurers from excluding coverage for specified services for individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The bill was passed by the Ohio House, but is currently stalled in the Senate.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment