Autism Deserves Equal Coverage Foundation

Over the past decade, we have made incredible progress in our work for autism coverage in California - ensuring coverage for every California family with state regulated insurance, whether private or public, individual or employer based, small or large group, Covered California (Obamacare) or Medi-Cal. However with the recent election, all our hard fought benefits are again at risk. The Trump Admisistration had directly threatened to overturn Obamacare and to scale back Medicaid. Undoubtedly mental health and disability services will also be attacked. We must redouble our efforts to protect our hard fought gains and can take nothing for granted. More than ever, ADEC Foundation needs your help.

In 2016 we succeeded in making the California benefits permanent, however despite laws to the contrary, many families still face denials based on inappropriate and illegal bases. Please help us to continue our work to eliminate these hurdles. Networks are inadequate, wait times are excessive, unnecessary barriers are erected, and inapproriate limits are set. We cannot afford the human or ecomic cost of keeping life altering treatment from deserving children and adults. 

My son Connor's autism diagnosis in 2005 and remarkable progress over the last 10 years inspired me to found ADEC Foundation. When he was three years old he couldn't even watch a soccer game without being in a tent to shield him from all the sounds and noises. And now he has played 4 years of competitive soccer with no teammate, coach or observer aware of his having any extraordinary challenges. In first grade he couldn't open his mouth or utter a sound in his classroom due to his anxiety. Last month he came with me to Los Angeles and gave the introduction to my presentation in front of 50 complete strangers without batting an eye.

His incredible progress was due to thousands of hours of therapy and hard work, none of which was paid for by our health plan until 2012. Before the school district agreed to pay for some of Connor's services, we had maxed out a $150,000 equity line on our home and were one mortgage payment away from defaulting on our mortgage.

And we were the lucky ones. I have an MBA from Stanford and my husnabd is an attorney and we were able to secure a substantial equity line on our home and spend every cent on his treatment. Even with that earning power and the school district untimately payng for excellent services, we barely scraped by for years. Most people don't have the means to secure the therapy we were able to give our son. Many of the brave parents I met along the way sold their homes to pay for treatment. Others lost their homes due to foreclusure. Many had no home to sell and went without treatment altogether.

Children of color are diagnosed as many as 2 years later than caucasions. Low income and disabled children on Medi-Cal have had no access to treatment until September of 2015, due in large part to the work by ADEC Foudation. Standard-of-care autism treatment and the hope for incedible outcmes like my son and family received should be accessible to all families, regardless of race or socioeconomic status. ADEC Foundation provides these families ACCESS, POTENTIAL, HOPE.

ADEC Foundation exists to ensure that individuals routinely and without difficulty receive access to comprehensive diagnosis and treatment for autism spectrum and related disorders (ASD). Our staff advocate and work with care providers, families, therapists, ABA agencies, Regional Centers, regulators,legislators and other organizations to ensure access to medically necessary treatments for ASD, often through health insurance.

We have successfully helped more than 200 families appeal health insurance denials and co-founded resource groups that advise over 1500 individuals with ASD and their families on how to navigate the health care system.  ADEC has been instrumental in affecting change in legislation at the state level to ensure that the insured are entitled to coverage, which has enabled more than 12,000 Californians to receive care through private insurance and recently 75,000 on Medi-Cal to become eligible for behavioral health treatment. But without continued work, these benefits will come under attack! The Trump administration is threatening Obamacare and Disability Services. Not only must we fight for access for those still without treatment, we mus now be prepared to fight to preserve the hard fought gains we have achieved over the last decade.

We envision a world where children and individuals with ASD and other mental health conditions can obtain access to the health care services they need to maximize their potential as part of our community. We will not stop until all individuals have access to care, even our poorest citizens who need help navigating Medi-Cal‘s new benefit and those employed by large employers exempt from California law. We lead the charge, allowing families and providers to focus on what they do best: caring for children and their loved ones.