Two comments by officials in two Utah insurance companies suggest how much is still not known about autism. From today’s Salt Lake Tribune:
“Is it even a defined disease? It’s a heart-breaking condition, but they don’t know the etiology, they don’t know the source,” said SelectHealth’s Medical Director Ken Schaechar. Autism is one of five pervasive developmental disorders for which [the insurance company] doesn’t cover diagnosis or treatment.
Yes, autism is “defined”; here’s the DSM criteria. Those criteria are under revision but once you know what autism is, you become much more aware of how much autism there is around you. By …read more