Opinion: The One-Two Punch of Autism

Interesting opinion piece from The Journal News by Liane Kupferberg Carter, a parent and Scarsdale resident.

SCARSDALE, N.Y. -- "Your child has autism."
It's a devastating diagnosis for a parent to hear. But it's a one-two punch when your insurance company then refuses to cover the critical, medically necessary therapies your child desperately needs.
When our then-2-year-old son was diagnosed with a developmental disability 16 years ago, a team of medical experts prescribed a rigorous program of therapies. However, state-funded early intervention services were only able to offer us an hour and a half a week of speech therapy — for a child who wasn't talking. We found private therapists to work with our child. But when we tried to file an insurance claim, the insurance company turned us down flat.