Autistic Adults Lose All Government Assistance At Age 21

[Guest guest]

Autistic Adults Lose All Government Assistance At Age 21, Struggle To Map Out

Future

First Posted: 08-17-10 11:37 AM

When Tyler Bell graduated from high school it meant he was one step closer to

being an independent -- a scary thought considering he's had to rely on other

people his whole life.

Tyler suffers from severe autism and, when he turns 21, will lose the government

support that paid for his special education and therapy needs for the past 17

years.

Many adults living with autism lack the proper amount of resources necessary to

live a normal life and the fear is that Tyler could end up becoming one of those

living alone.

To prevent this, Tyler's parents, with the help of friends, neighbors and

teachers have mapped out Tyler's future, literally. They have drawn out various

scenarios Tyler may face and created solutions they can provide him when he does

indeed lose government support. The Bell family gathered friends and neighbors,

anyone who knows Tyler well to help give him guidance and map out the future

that he'll have to manage himself.

ABC World News reports.

WATCH:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/17/autistic-adults-assistance_n_684133.htm\

l

[Guest guest]

Did anyone else watch this video yet? Not sure if I should mention this (don't

jump on me!!) but if the planned universal health program was to come to pass

-wouldn't this help those that need help no matter what and no matter what age?

I mean they don't go into it in this video as they only talk about government

assistance, but if your child has a written diagnosis of " autism " which these

things stay in records " have you ever been diagnosed with

(insert long list of exclusions like diabetes and...)

autism " even if high functioning good luck in getting health insurance coverage

the ways things are now as that's one of the exclusions for most policies.

Fortunately I believe the insurance one is going to be the greater issue for

most of our children as most here have children that are higher functioning but

SO many are diagnosed as autistic -autistic or not. But there needs to be a way

to help all of this large group of affected children/individuals.

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[Guest guest]

Don't want to get into too much of a political debate here but... we need

solutions other than " health care for everyone " or what we do have coming

" obamacare " . Ppl need continued care provided by society, but I don't think

'universal healthcare' is the answer. IMO there needs to be programs for adults

with continuing needs for assistance, there are locally in many places (I live

in California)but I greatly fear what would happen to such individuals, who

can't speak as much for their own rights and needs, under the coming beurocracy

and red tape that will happen. There needs to be involvement with ppl within the

community who won't simply look at someone's care as a number (cost) on a list

and how to keep that number down.

If medicare is bankrupt, and doctors are refusing patients and their

reimubersment costs aren't enough for doctors to make their ends meet, why does

the government think it can run the entire health care industry any better

(which what the government IS going to do in 2014). I am dreading the decline in

services, greatly increased wait times, and restrictions on what people can have

for treatment,pharmaceuticals, and denial of services (as occurs now in Britian

and Canada- life-saving drugs are denied, ppl are told they can't purchase

medications even privately or try new and innovative treatments, or are denied

certain treatments when they get over a certain age, (I think 65)) which is

almost definitely coming after the government realizes that they can't afford

what they have set into action. I wish we could afford it, but we can't, so

there WILL be rationing. Yes, everyone can have care... but the entire standard

of care for everyone will be much, much less than the standard now, and older

citizens will get less care than the younger ones.

Plus, there is always the issue that, " healthcare " does not equate to " services "

or needed services for everyone. Even now, health insurance covers some things,

not other things. It wouldn't surprise me if disabilities that are non-physical

would be excluded as " not medically necessary " (as my current insurance does).

Unfortunately, all ppl don't have parents with the foresight of these parents in

the article, and a community to look after the young man as he reaches

adulthood. Cost of care IS an issue, but without the element of community/ppl

who care in addition to dealing with the costs, there is a serious risk of

neglect and reduced quality of life.

What I wish would happen is see programs similiar to those run by Easter Seals,

etc. gain increasing support and expand (yes, even goverment funding) to put

programs in place for such adult ppl. I'm all for programs... just want the

government to keep it's fingers out of running them.

>

> Did anyone else watch this video yet? Not sure if I should mention this

(don't jump on me!!) but if the planned universal health program was to come to

pass -wouldn't this help those that need help no matter what and no matter what

age? I mean they don't go into it in this video as they only talk about

government assistance, but if your child has a written diagnosis of " autism "

which these things stay in records " have you ever been diagnosed with

> (insert long list of exclusions like diabetes and...)

> autism " even if high functioning good luck in getting health insurance

coverage the ways things are now as that's one of the exclusions for most

policies. Fortunately I believe the insurance one is going to be the greater

issue for most of our children as most here have children that are higher

functioning but SO many are diagnosed as autistic -autistic or not. But there

needs to be a way to help all of this large group of affected

children/individuals.

>

> =====

>

[Guest guest]

We have to come up with some options or it's not autism that's going to bankrupt

the health care system -it's diabetes...which is coming soon to a preschool near

you. The video on this page is one of the best on this topic. " parents

underestimate obesity problem "

http://pursuitofresearch.org/serving_suggestions.html

When you talk about not getting services however it's clear to me that your

husband who has always made well over 6 figures -upper middle class income, had

a heart attack, the insurance payment due to a number of reasons lapsed...and

even though there is no known heart injury on medical record anywhere as it was

from a blood clot, even though he was only on heart medication for one year and

it's been close to 4 years since -it's clear that your husband isn't in the

situation where he can't get any health insurance to cover him even though I

have called all over, willing to pay for health insurance for him, the

cardiologist willing to give a clean bill of health...and yes that's my husband

and if he gets sick or has an accident God forbid my family will be out on the

streets probably because the crappy overly expensive " coverage " he has to accept

is so limited that it's a joke -nothing is paid except if he is admitted and

even then it's limited and again it's very expensive. We paid so much in to the

" system " for decades and living with the writing on the wall I'm not willing to

turn over all my rights to some insurance conglomerate I trust as far as I can

throw either. Yes right now we'd be better off in Canada in regards to my

husband. You have a solution do share....I'm listening. Because when I speak

below of all those children with the diagnosis of " autism " on their medical

records under the SS number...I know what that means when they are no longer

under mommy and daddy's insurance policy and it's not pretty -it's pretty ugly.

As I just wrote in a previous email there are pros and cons to everything and

this should not be political -the fact you call it Obamacare tells me it is to

you. This is about the numerous people all over the country right now that even

if they are WILLING to pay for health insurance -ARE DENIED!!!! And what about

that cancer patient who's policy was canceled because they said her payment was

short ONE PENNY?!!!

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/article.aspx?post=1779425

Insurance companies should not be allowed to decide that just because one has

EVER been diagnosed with autism, diabetes, heart attack etc. they are

automatically excluded- they do that now. Yes they do and yes they can! And

since you are probably new and don't know how difficult it is to secure speech

therapy for your child either through the insurance company

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=115029735601 & topic=13830

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