Just received alert for amendment 1 to HB 1919

[Guest guest]

Call Your State Representative TODAY and Urge him/her to Support Senate

Amendment 1 to HB 1919!!

Help Texas Families Get Insurance Coverage for Autism Services!

The Texas State House of Representatives is voting on Senate Amendment 1 on

May 25!!

We need your help TODAY to make sure that your State Representative supports

HB 1919 and this important amendment!!

In addition to your own testimony, you can use the following talking points

when speaking with your Representative's office. Tell your state

representative to support this amendment because...

* Amendment 1 to House Bill 1919 calls for private insurance plans to

provide all medically necessary coverage included in a physician-prescribed

autism treatment plan, which may include applied behavioral analysis, speech

therapy, and occupational therapy for children ages 3-5 with autism spectrum

disorder.

* Recent estimates from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) indicate

that 1 in 150 U.S. children now has some form of ASD.

* The lifetime per capita cost of autism can easily reach $3.2 million

if a person does not receive treatment as a young child.

* Texas would save $208,500 per child (across eighteen years of

general revenue funded educational services) for an autistic child that has

received early intensive behavior intervention, versus a child that has not

received

these services (according to a University of Houston study).

* 17 states have some type of insurance coverage requirement for

autism.

TRICARE, the military health insurance plan, which covers 9.2 million lives,

has recently decided to provide treatment coverage for dependents with

autism.

CReece

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