Autism Insurance Reform bill of Michigan: A talk with Lt. Governor Calley Pt. 2 - Examiner

This article is a continuation of Autism Insurance Reform bill of Michigan: A talk with Lt. Governor Calley Pt. 1

Now the Autism Insurance Reform bill has been passed, and signed into law.  The law will go into affect on October 1, 2012, the beginning if Michigan's fiscal year.  Although the law takes goes into affect on October 1, your health insurance provider will not have to cover services until your health insurance renewal date. 

I asked the Lt. Governor, "There are approximately 15,000 children in Michigan that are classified as having some form of autism, how many kids will this legislation help?"

"Eventually all of the them" replied Mr. Calley. 

Right now the reform bill mandates that any state funded health insurance providers, or any HMOs has to cover traditional, evidence-based services for autism. Employers that provide self-funded insurance are not required to provide autism coverage under this law.  However, if an employer with self-funded health insurance "self-adopts" autism coverage, the State of Michigan will reimburse that employer throught the Autism Coverage Incentive Program.  Also, during our interview, Lt. Governor Calley mentioned that the State of Michigan will soon be covering autism coverage through Medicaid for low-income families that has a child with autism.  That measure is currently going through budget process, and will also go into effect on October 1st. 

Check out Part Three of this article and my interview with Lt. Governor of Michigan, Brian Calley.