New Jersey Embraces Autism Mandate
It looks like New Jersey will become the 14th state to mandate insurance companies cover autism treatments. The legislature finalized work on an autism mandate bill yesterday and the governor is expected to sign it.
Reading the news story, I was a little confused, to be honest. The way it was written ("New Jerseyans with autism and other developmental disabilities would get up to $36,000 in certain treatments covered each year, under a bill that cleared the Legislature today") sounded to my ears like legislators set up some state program to hand over money to families with autistic kids. This legislation, however, is not that honest. Legislators will receive kudos for helping autistic kids but they don't have to find the money to do it (an almost-impossible proposition given the New Jersey budget mess). Instead, legislators mandate that everyone pay more for insurance to help a few people gain access to expensive therapy that is of questionable efficacy.
Don't you just love the policy process?
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