Senate panel clears bill requiring insurers to cover autism treatment

Despite containing elements that lawmakers don't have and don't like — money and mandates — a bill with an approximate cost of $1 million and a requirement that insurance companies pay for autism treatment passed a Senate committee Thursday morning.

To obtain the expensive, intense early behavior modification therapy that parents of autistic children say is always helpful, families must be able to pay the $50,000 to $75,000 annual cost of the treatment.

The bill is named "Clay's Law" after 8-year-old Clay Whiffen, who was diagnosed at age 2 and underwent the treatment. After 2 ½ years, he was no long exhibiting typical out-of-control behavior. By all appearances — a brief gymnastics demonstration for lawmakers and the packed meeting room — the boy appears to have made a full recovery from autism.

His mother, Leeann Whiffen, said her son goes to regular public school and "is indistinguishable from his peers."

Normal behavior and activities for the boy or other autistic children were regarded as out of reach until recently. The cause of autism remains unknown, but the treatment is proving effective and deemed worthy by many of being underwritten by insurance.

Lawmakers appeared to be on the verge of tabling the bill after hearing small business representatives and the Utah insurance underwriter's association testify that they were squarely against the bill — not in spirit but its inherent unfairness to small businesses through mandating coverage that would only apply to 33 percent of insured Utahns.

Bill sponsor Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said families with autistic children had gone bankrupt getting the treatment, and that while other segments of the population get plenty of assistance for their health needs, the young families with autistic children had been disenfranchised.

The state Department of Health estimates that Utah has one of the highest incidences of autism, 1 out of every 133 children, compared to 1 out of 150 nationally.

Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, who made the motion to table that failed and then made the motion to pass it out favorably, was the single vote against it. He said in his dental practice he treats autistic children almost every day, that he supported money for the new statewide autism registry and putting money back into a new autism preschool program.

"But I just can't vote in favor of this bill because it in effect just shifts the financial burden from one payer to another, and where do we draw the line with mandates?" he said.

The 5-1 committee vote coincides with a special ruling by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that there is no evidence of a link between autism and childhood vaccines. More than 5,000 court claims have been made, and a link to mumps, measles and rubella vaccines or their ingredients has never been shown definitively.

Most pediatricians and other mainstream health -care providers say the evidence of a link is anecdotal and tenuous at best. Brittany Recalde, whose daughter, Mira, is autistic and receiving in-home therapy, said there is a lot of debate regarding the possible cause.

"People want to know what went wrong and why," she said. "I can certainly understand that. We may not ever know for sure. But we know this treatment regimen not only works it is very effective. As a mom it's not how or why it happened but what I can do about it now."

E-MAIL: jthalman@desnews.com