If you turn on the news chances are you have heard about Healthcare. Healthcare is important and it is a big issue. Both Presidential Candidates have their own plans on healthcare. But what is scary is there is a type of people that Healthcare is not talked so much about and that is people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. So I will be looking at each Presidential Candidates plan. The bottom line is after looking carefully at each plan I came to one conclusion the Autistic population may still not get services they need I will explain later. First of all I’m going to look at President Obama’s plan. Under the Patient Healthcare Act insurers have to cover pre-existing condition. Also people can stay on their parents’s insurgence till they are 26. That is very good, but here is a problem that I see what happens when the Autistic person ages past 26. What happens then. Some would say get a job. I attended an Autism Symposium this summer and we talked about employment. Most of the speakers claimed that Autistic people have unemployment at 25% that is 1 out of every 4 of us are unemployed, that would also make us the most group of people unemployed in the USA. Second those that are employed over 50% of them are underemployed. Most of them make less than $20,000 a year which puts them at the poverty level. Here is something also scary a lot of jobs Autistic people manage to find does not have insurgence or offer it.
Now lets take a look at Governor Romney’s plan. Romney has claimed he would keep the 26 age limit and pre-existing conditions however Romney wants to let healthcare fall into the states. That may or may not be good here is why. Right now we are in the worst recession since the 1930’s. A lot of states are making cuts and that greatly impacts services and healthcare. For example the State of California is nearly broke and It has been in the news that they are going to have to cut services. The services that are the first to go are services that serve special people, Autistic and others with disabilities. California may also have to start cutting healthcare. Another example to look at is Tennessee early in the first decade 2000’s our state was having problems and the first thing that was cut was services such as vocational rehab and healthcare
So what have we learned from this, the bottom line is both plans are not perfect. I have thought long about this and I have come up with ways that I think legislators should start with concerning health care.
First, I think we should make it a low that Insurers have an unique clause or a special clause. What I meant by that is if you have a child that has Autism or other special needs than the should be required by law to stay on their parents health plans for life. Cut out the 26 age limit in special cases like above make it to were they can stay on their insurance for life.
Second, I believe that Autism should be classified as a pre-existing conditions. and Pre-existing conditions need to be covered. Autistic people often heave other health problems that go along with the Autism. From what we know the big three conditions that go along with Autism are Diabetes, Epilepsy, and immune problems. This means that the Autistic population is going to need special care especially as we age
Third, I think that therapy needs to be considered in plans. Most plans only cover short term therapy. Well the problem is when it comes to Autism most of the Therapy is long term. Long term therapy needs to be covered by insurers. as research has shown that early intervention and therapy is critical in young Autistic people.
I think these are 3 good ways to start to fix healthcare