Mini-Theft of Multi-Cultural Figurines

From the random files of autism: Alex is building himself quite a collection of little figures that he has a deep attachment to: dolls, more or less, though some might call them figures or dollhouse people. They’re a multi-cultural collection of professional people, an Hispanic medical professional, a woman with leg braces and a clipboard. An African-American doctor (white coat), serious expression.

Photo courtesy of kyz (flickr.com)

I hate to think what these things have cost, and as he has clearly filched them from some recreation program, I’ve tried sticking them in his bag with a note that says Sorry! Alex didn’t mean to take these! (Though he most certainly did.) But they don’t always take them back…

I wanted to play Devil’s Advocate and stand up for the insurance company on this one, but I just can’t. Here’s the issue:

“A tactic used by insurance companies to deny expensive behavioral therapy to autistic children has been deemed illegal by a Los Angeles judge. In a preliminary ruling, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant found that Kaiser Permanente’s refusal to pay for a child’s autism treatment because the provider was not licensed by the state runs counter to California’s Mental Health Parity Act. That act requires insurers to cover care for mental and behavioral problems at the same levels they do for physical illnesses.”

The treatment is ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapy, and many, if not most, providers are not licensed at the state level, meaning that the insurance companies would never have to cover treatment. As parents desperate for treatments and therapies for our kids, we need more support from insurance, not less. ABA is hardly an untested or experimental treatment, and I can’t defend a company claiming that it’s only trying to “protect” patients from unlicensed practitioners when it’s clear that the refusal to pay is based on profit.