Pending Legislation in CT!

Dear Families,

I just learned last night that the public hearing for Senate Bill 974, An Act Concerning Health Insurance Coverage for Alternative Therapies for Autism, will be held tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, CT, room 2C. This is a hearing before the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, which has agreed to raise the bill at the request of Linda Schofield. We are so grateful to Linda for her support.

As we received virtually no notice of the hearing, we are asking to have the hearing delayed; but according to Linda this doesn't seem likely. So for now assume that the hearing will go on as planned. Please scroll down this list to see the hearing information near the bottom on the right:

http://advocacy.ccm-ct.org/Resources.ashx?id=ab32f77f-7cb8-4956-8001-9b4a01c2c0c5

This is a bill that would provide insurance coverage for evidence-based developmental/relationship-based interventions such as RDI, DIR/floortime (Greenspan model) and the SCERTS model, among others. We believe that parents should have choices of covered interventions that fit their and their child's preferences and needs; the experts agree that, with autism therapy, one size does not fit all!

There will be a lot of interest in the topic of whether there is sufficient evidence basis for these various therapies; so if you have any helpful information along these lines, please feel free to share it in your testimony. Also, there will be a lot of interest in the cost-effectiveness of these therapies; so again, feel free to include information on that in your testimony.

If at all possible on this short notice, please attend the hearing if you can, and provide oral testimony (maximum of three minutes). You will need to supply written copies of your testimony also (35 copies). You will need to be there at 11:00 for the sign in.

If you cannot make the hearing, you may submit written testimony (no maximum length) by noon tomorrow. You may e-mail your testimony to the following individual, who will make the necessary copies for you and get your testimony to the committee for the hearing.

Robert Labanara rlabanara@ccm-ct.org

Please include the following information with your testimony:

Your name and contact information - address, phone, e-mail
Number and title of the bill: Senate Bill 974, Health Insurance Coverage For Alternative Therapies For Autism: Mandate
Your position (e.g. I support SB 974)
(He did not mention date, but I think you should definitely put the date of submission).

There is no minimum or maximum length requirement although he advised to keep it on the short side since the committee has a lot of written testimony to go through. He suggested bullet points as a good format.

Please spread the word as quickly as possible to other parents and professionals who may want to attend the hearing and/or submit testimony.

Also, Kim Kiernan will be coordinating most of the communication regarding this bill going forward. If you do not want to be on Kim's e-mail list of contacts for this information, please e-mail her at k2.kiernan@gmail.com and reequest to be removed from the list.

Here is the current version of the bill, which is an expanded version of the current behavioral mandate:

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/TOB/S/2011SB-00974-R00-SB.htm

Please help us in this effort! It is so important for our children and families to have affordable choices in autism therapy.

Laura