At The Gadsden Messenger, State Representative Craig Ford praises the Alabama Legislature for passing an autism insurance mandate.
According to the national Center for Disease Control, one out of every 175 children in Alabama has been diagnosed with some degree of Autism Spectrum Disorder. While treatment is most effective for children between ages two and nine, and coverage for children in this age range was already mandated by law, some children need further treatment going into their teenage years.
But the costs for Applied Behavioral Therapy treatment can be as high as $70,000 a year! So the legislature passed a new law that requires insurance companies to include in their group plans (defined as plans with 51 or more people participating) coverage for the treatment of children up to age 17.
This bill, which Gov. Kay Ivey has now signed into law, will improve the lives of thousands of children and their families. But it also shows what can be done when legislators work together.
Rep. Jim Patterson, R-Meridianville, worked tirelessly on this bill, and he didn’t make it a partisan issue. Rep. Patterson talked with Democrats and Republicans in both chambers of the legislature to come to a compromise that would limit the costs to insurers while still guaranteeing the coverage for our children.
As a result, this bill was passed out of the House with 102 votes in favor and not a single vote against it. In the state Senate, only one senator voted against it.
Another bipartisan success was our education budget. Budget chairman Bill Poole, R-Tuscaloosa, has always worked hard and listened to members of both parties when crafting the education budget. His tireless work has also led to unanimous support in the House for his budgets. And even more impressive is that he’s passed the education budget with unanimous support for three years in a row!
Both of these men have shown what can be accomplished when leaders reach across the aisle and work together instead of turning everything into a partisan issue.
