Judge: Minnesota Autism Care 'Inconsistent'

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A Ramsey County judge has ruled that Minnesota's Medicaid program has been "inconsistent" in paying for intensive autism treatment for some children while denying it to others.
But the ruling stops short of ordering the state to cover the treatment for a low-income child, identified as T.O., who is at the heart of the case.
The judge sent the issue back to an administrative law judge for further proceedings.
Amy Dawson, the lawyer representing T.O., had sued the state and HealthPartners for refusing to cover the child's bills for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. Dawson argued the state routinely paid those bills for more affluent families under a Medicaid program for disabled children, but refused it to low-income children like T.O., who was enrolled in a Medicaid managed-care program.