BILL NUMBER: AJR 46 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 31, 2010
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Harkey
JUNE 29, 2010
Relative to autism in military families.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 46, Harkey. Autism in military families: funding Intensive
Behavioral Interventions.
This measure would respectfully urge the Congress of the United
States to pass legislation that will fully fund Intensive Behavioral
Interventions (IBI) services through TRICARE for all military
families with children with autism, to designate IBI services as a
medical necessity to make coverage of IBI services available for the
children with autism of retired military personnel, and to ensure
parental choice of treatment by fully funding all IBI services,
including Applied Behavioral Analysis, DIR/Floortime, RDI, and other
forms of intervention therapy demonstrated to be clinically
effective.
WHEREAS, The incidence of autism and autism spectrum disorders for
children born in the United States is on the rise; and
WHEREAS, Children born in the United States today have a one in
100 chance of being diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder; and
WHEREAS, The reasons for this increased incidence of autism are
unknown; and
WHEREAS, For reasons equally unknown, the incidence for autism
spectrum disorders among military families is higher than among
civilian families; and
WHEREAS, Autism, a medical condition, presents severe financial
and emotional challenges to a family; and
WHEREAS, Children with autism need a stable environment; and
WHEREAS, The frequent family relocations inherent in the military
community due to the frequency of deployments and the transient
nature of military life present challenges to a military family in
providing that stable environment; and
WHEREAS, As military families are transferred from one state to
another they often find themselves at the bottom of a long waiting
list for needed state assistance for their child with autism; and
WHEREAS, Many military families are not receiving adequate care
for their children with autism, which adversely impacts their
children's futures; and
WHEREAS, The special needs of children with autism often interfere
with the normal deployment of military personnel; and
WHEREAS, The special needs of children with autism often prevent
the nonmilitary spouse in a military family from pursuing a civilian
career and frequent deployments of service members with children with
autism present an added burden on the nonmilitary spouse; and
WHEREAS, Intensive Behavioral Interventions (IBI), including
Applied Behavior Analysis, DIR/Floortime, Relationship Development
Intervention (RDI), and other recognized forms of intervention
therapy clinically determined to be effective are making a difference
in the lives of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder;
and
WHEREAS, The Surgeon General of the Navy and the Commander of the
United States Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, have both recommended the
inclusion of Applied Behavioral Analysis, DIR/Floortime, and other
forms of intervention models within the IBI services provided to
military families with children with autism; and
WHEREAS, Because autism affects each child differently, it has
often been said that "if you've seen one child with autism, you've
seen one child with autism"; and
WHEREAS, As autism affects each child differently, effective
treatments for autism vary from child to child; and
WHEREAS, Studies have shown that children respond to treatments
differently and that different treatments or a combination of
different treatments are necessary in order for children to reach
their full potential; and
WHEREAS, Parents, in consultation with medical professionals, are
in the best position to determine the particular needs of their
particular child with autism; and
WHEREAS, The principles of informed consent in evidence-based
medicine require that families have full access to the range of
potential treatments that exist for a condition; and
WHEREAS, IBI is critical if a child with autism is going to reach
his or her full potential; and
WHEREAS, The cost to care for a person with autism over the
individual's lifetime without IBI is estimated at $3.2 million; and
WHEREAS, The lifetime savings for the cost to care for a person
with autism who has had IBI services is estimated to be over $2
million; and
WHEREAS, Out-of-pocket costs for IBI treatment can amount to
$65,000 or more annually; and
WHEREAS, Children with autism who most often lack coverage for
effective behavioral therapies use substantially more outpatient
visits and incur more health coverage expenses than children with
other special health care needs; and
WHEREAS, The cost of providing prescribed levels of IBI services
for children with autism often exceeds the service member's take-home
pay; and
WHEREAS, The unmet financial burden of providing adequate IBI
services often results in the accumulation of debt sufficient to
jeopardize a service member's security clearance; and
WHEREAS, TRICARE, the Health Care Management Program for military
families, was implemented by the United States Department of Defense
in 1997 in order to ensure that medical and mental health care
services are available for families of active duty service members
and certain former members of the uniformed services to preserve the
high morale, readiness, and retention of a quality all-volunteer
force; and
WHEREAS, TRICARE covers less than 25 percent of a typical child
with autism's needs for IBI services; and
WHEREAS, The failure of TRICARE to adequately fund IBI services
for children with autism leads to extreme financial hardship for
military families; and
WHEREAS, The failure to fund the prescribed level of IBI services
for children in military families impacts service members, who must
seek more lucrative civilian employment in order to meet the needs of
their children; and
WHEREAS, The need to seek civilian employment to afford the
prescribed level of IBI services deprives our nation's military of
valuable trained service members, thereby impacting the cost of the
nation's military readiness and the retention of a quality
all-volunteer force; and
WHEREAS, The Surgeon General of the Navy, the Surgeon General of
the Army, and the Chief Medical Officer of the Coast Guard, as well
as senior military officers in all branches of the service, have
endorsed the inclusion of IBI services as a fully funded TRICARE
benefit; and
WHEREAS, The Surgeon General of the Navy, the Surgeon General of
the Army, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National
Academy of Sciences recommend a minimum of 25 to 40 hours of IBI
services per week; and
WHEREAS, TRICARE's Extended Care Health Option (ECHO) program
creates barriers to care, and enrollment and eligibility criteria
result in delays and denials of medically prescribed services; and
WHEREAS, Families report a minimum of six months delay from the
time a parent notices something is wrong with his or her child to the
date treatment is received at a time when early treatment is
critical to the success of the child; and
WHEREAS, IBI services are a medical necessity for children with
autism, not a special educational benefit; and
WHEREAS, The children with autism of retired military personnel
are denied coverage for IBI services on the basis that these services
are classified as "special education" instead of as a medical
necessity; and
WHEREAS, Nineteen states have passed laws defining the treatment
of autism as a medical necessity; and
WHEREAS, Since autism presents a tremendous strain on military
families, IBI treatment has a positive impact not only on the child
with autism, but also on the parents caring for their child with
autism; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
respectfully urges the Congress of the United States, in recognition
of the sacrifice made by military families defending our nation, to
pass legislation that will fully fund IBI services through TRICARE
for all military families with children with autism; and be it
further
Resolved, That the Legislature urges the Congress of the United
States to include in the legislation a designation of IBI services as
a medical necessity in order to make coverage of IBI services
available for the children with autism of retired military personnel;
and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature urges the Congress of the United
States to ensure parental choice of treatment by fully funding all
IBI services, including Applied Behavioral Analysis, DIR/Floortime,
RDI, and other forms of intervention therapy demonstrated to be
clinically effective; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, the Secretary of Defense, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, the Majority Leader of the Senate, Members of the
House and Senate Committees on Armed Services, and to each Senator
and Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.