Tweet
Yea, that happened..
Last week we got a formal diagnosis from a neuro psychologist that our son is autistic. The bad news is that he is a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. We had a good idea of what we were facing a couple of months ago, so I got our son enrolled in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Therapy and paid out of pocket. At the time, insurance said they wouldn't pay because we didn't have the formal diagnosis. His primary pediatrician gave a preliminary diagnosis of static encephalopathy. So I paid out of pocket.
Now, with a formal diagnosis, insurance says that my company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, had elected to not offer that kind of coverage. So now I have to continue paying $400 a week to keep our son in ABA therapy. I've contacted our companies HR advocacy and they are looking into it but I'm doubtful they'll cover it at this point.
So how about some good news. Our son's long term prognosis is good. The psychologist told us that his development depends on how well he responds to ABA treatment and his IQ. He is too young to really get a good IQ test but after much discussion, we realized that is IQ level is decent at the very least and he may be very intelligent. He has also responded rather well to ABA therapy after only a month. His behavior is slowly getting better. He is no longer screaming every time one little thing is out of order. Instead he is verbally asking for help (WOOHOO!). Things are slowly getting better and the 40 hours of therapy each week is giving my wife a much needed break.
If our son continues responding to ABA therapy, we think he'll miss his first year of kindergarten but may be able to attend normal school a year later.
So, if you have a child with Autism, can you tell me what you've been doing along the lines of insurance? Is your employer covering it or did you get other arrangements? Any advice is appreciated.
Last week we got a formal diagnosis from a neuro psychologist that our son is autistic. The bad news is that he is a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. We had a good idea of what we were facing a couple of months ago, so I got our son enrolled in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Therapy and paid out of pocket. At the time, insurance said they wouldn't pay because we didn't have the formal diagnosis. His primary pediatrician gave a preliminary diagnosis of static encephalopathy. So I paid out of pocket.
Now, with a formal diagnosis, insurance says that my company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, had elected to not offer that kind of coverage. So now I have to continue paying $400 a week to keep our son in ABA therapy. I've contacted our companies HR advocacy and they are looking into it but I'm doubtful they'll cover it at this point.
So how about some good news. Our son's long term prognosis is good. The psychologist told us that his development depends on how well he responds to ABA treatment and his IQ. He is too young to really get a good IQ test but after much discussion, we realized that is IQ level is decent at the very least and he may be very intelligent. He has also responded rather well to ABA therapy after only a month. His behavior is slowly getting better. He is no longer screaming every time one little thing is out of order. Instead he is verbally asking for help (WOOHOO!). Things are slowly getting better and the 40 hours of therapy each week is giving my wife a much needed break.
If our son continues responding to ABA therapy, we think he'll miss his first year of kindergarten but may be able to attend normal school a year later.
So, if you have a child with Autism, can you tell me what you've been doing along the lines of insurance? Is your employer covering it or did you get other arrangements? Any advice is appreciated.
Comment