Relief as autism bill passes

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Private insurance companies will be required to cover autism treatment, under an 11th-hour proposal passed Friday by the Legislature.

TALLAHASSEE -- In an agonizing last-minute decision that caused the Capitol rotunda to erupt in cheers, the Legislature signed off Friday on a plan that forces private insurance companies for the first time to cover kids with autism.

A decade in the making, the legislation pushed by Sen. Steve Geller of Cooper City was the last bill to pass the 2008 lawmaking session, in which $4 billion budget cuts pitted the have-nots against the have-a-littles.

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House Speaker Marco Rubio and his entire chamber liked the act. But they said it wasn't enough because it only helped kids with autism, not those with Down syndrome, spina bifida or any other developmental disability.

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The proposal requires health insurance companies to cover $36,000 a year in autism treatment -- up to $200,000 over a lifetime. It also asks the Office of Insurance Regulation to work out an agreement with insurance companies to cover other developmental disabilities.

Miami Herald