Recently, I took my son to see one of his doctors. The office informed us, prior to the visit, that my insurance was no longer accepted. If I wanted my son to be seen by the doctor, I had to pay $150 up front and submit the bill to my insurance company myself. They might pay it; they might not.
My son’s doctors are great, and they’ve been there for him for years. The continuity and history is so important to my son’s success that changing doctors isn’t an option. I’m sure that they have a good reason for not taking the insurance so I’m not blaming them. Who knows, maybe the insurance companies weren’t sending the payments quick enough. . . . I don’t know. What I do know is that since I didn’t have the money, I had no choice but to pull out my credit card and charge it. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to do this, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
But. . . . . . I can’t help feeling a little victimized. We are not only the family of a child with an autistic spectrum disorder who is paying through the nose. I haven’t met one family with a kid on the autistic spectrum who has not paid exorbitant amounts of money for doctors, therapists, social skills programs, and other treatments.
It would be nice if we could put off the social skills program or the sensory integration therapy or the doctors’ visit for a year or two until we had the money to pay for it, but we just don’t have that kind of time. Early intervention is so important that we have no choice, but to shell out the money ourselves and hope for the best.
Parents with kids on the autistic spectrum spend hours in research, discussion, investigation, networking, and negotiation in order to find the find the right path for their kids. All of this is done on top of the playdates, activities, school, and family functions that typical families engage in. It takes an enormous amount of time and energy just to find the right path – and it can be exhausting! You would think that insurance coverage would be the least of our worries – but that’s not the way things are!
That this issue needs some real attention is outlined in a recent CNN article “Parents Press for Autism Coverage”.
Perhaps with a new President and a new Congress, this issue can be looked at closely and a solution can be crafted. I really hope so!
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