Autismspeaks.org is rallying community support for new legislation in NJ that will mandate insurers to provide benefits for individuals with autism. They need your help now to send a message to lawmakers by by calling, writing, or showing up at the first hearing of the Appropriations Committee for Assembly Bill 2238 tomorrow at 2pm, in Trenton - Committee Room 4.
If you can't get there, call all 12 members of the Appropriations Committee to say you support autism insurance reform - names and numbers, after the jump.
You can help get the grass growing by sending an email blast to your neighbors, friends, family members, therapists, teachers and co-workers, asking them to support Assembly Bill 2238. Register here for updates.
Here in Baristaville, consider joining the activities of a weekend-long autism fundraiser, June 6-8, sponsored by BritsRock4Autism. Ticket information and a schedule of events, here.
* Nellie Pou, Chair, Paterson - 973-247-1555
* Valerie Huttle, Vice Chair, Englewood - 201-541-1118
Dawn Addiego, Medford - 609-654-1498
Peter Barnes, Edison - 732-548-1406
* Herb Conaway, Delran - 856-461-3997
Michael Doherty, Washington - 908-835-0552
* Louis Greenwald, Voorhees - 856-435-1247
* Reed Gusciora, Trenton - 609-292-0500
Richard Merkt, Randolph - 973-895-9100
Ruben Ramos, Hoboken - 201-714-4960
Samuel Thompson, Matawan - 732-583-5558
John Wisniewski, Parlin - 732-316-1885
*NOTE: These members need the most phone calls.
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Comments (10)
Are austic kids not getting coverage? My sister teaches austic kids and has never said a word. Anyone know? Otherwise I get nervous whenever we're going to mandate insurance companies - as we wind up paying for those mandates. I'm still steamed at some of the recent ones that cover what I consider to be unneccessary procedures.
If there's any info on that "Autism Speaks" website regarding what benefits are not currently being provided to autistic people & what this new legislation entails -- well, I can't find it. I haven't got all night to browse every corner of that website but I've tried.
The Autism Votes has some general statements about autism benefits & specifics on what's being proposed in certain states but zilch for NJ.
All I've learned so far is that Jenny McCarthy & Jim Carrey believe that vaccines cause autism.
What does this all mean for NJ? More info would be helpful. Whatever's being proposed will probably be hugely expensive. Maybe it's an expense that we all need to bear, but I don't see any convincing arguments for that.
Sorry, I was a little premature with the post there. There's 1 item on NJ autism legislation that was passed last year:
http://www.autismvotes.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=frKNI3PCImE&b=3930723&ct=5081717
Is this the Suzanne and Bob one?
You should be nervous, hrhppg. If you think health insurance is expensive now...
The headline threw me. I've never heard of Autism Speaks as an organization. So I read:
Autism(s) speaks(v) advocates(n) for insurance(modifying speaks).
Which made no sense at all.
I am a parent of an autistic child here in NJ and as it stands now, once you have a diagnosis of autism, nothing related to the treatment or therapy is covered. Although these treatments and therapies are covered for other diagnosis'.
walleroo and hrhppg, people with Autism are still people, they still think and feel, and they still need to be able to see to their medical needs.
They are not empty husks of people who are destined to spend their lives rocking back and forth in an attic somewhere. Just like anyone else with or without a disorder, having the proper treatment and the proper environment from day 1 gives them the chance to end up being fully functioning people.
How would you like it if just because a disorder had been diagnosed, your child was denied health coverage, or treatment for their treatable disorder?
Having the proper treatment and the proper environment from day 1 gives them the chance to end up being fully functioning people.
I assume you believe that proper treatment and environment should be provided to autistic children at no or minimal cost to their parents. Okay, what exactly do you mean by "treatment" and "environment"? How much would this cost? (It's a valid question.) Should treatment be provided even in extreme cases, when there's zero chance that the patient can ever become fully functioning?
Just because somebody asks these questions, Amandala, doesn't mean they think that autistic people are empty husks. You are engaging in a common type of moral bullying. Shame!
Wow Amandala!
I asked a question.
I never said anything about locking people in an attic!
As mentioned earlier, my sister teaches autistic children. At a school for autistic children and that school has just extended its self to allow the "kids" to stay in school until they are 21, as opposed to aging out at 18. From the information I have, more resources are going toward autistic children.
If you did any research into NJ Insurance providers you?d know that they already have a lot of mandates to follow- tens of thousands of dollars per covered individual for procedures that may or may not be needed and that some people consider unnecessary. I?d rather make health care affordable for EVERYONE instead of mandating it out of affordability for most families. After all if you can?t afford the coverage it doesn?t matter if you autistic, not autistic, boy, girl, or flying monkey ? you don?t get healthcare!
BTW ? never ever accuse a nice Jewish girl about locking people in an attic. It?s upsetting and in bad taste.