Health Care Reform & Your Children

On September 23, 2010 one of the first mandates from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) went into effect. From September 23, 2010 forward no child under the age of 18 could be denied any of the health plans available based on a pre existing condition. In addition, all children applying for medical insurance would no longer have any riders placed on pre existing conditions. Riders mean different things but in this case it means that if you have a child with a medical condition any major medical health plans that insure that child must pay for any treatment that child may need. If you have purchased a high deductible heath plan and your child is hospitalized for a pre existing condition you will still have to meet the deductible but your carrier will pay for the hospital bills after you meet the deductible. Even most high deductible health plans will offer doctor visit coverage and that would also include doctor visits for pre existing conditions. Before health care reform, even though you faithfully paid your health insurance premiums every month, if you had a child that had a medical condition that he/she was born with chances are the insurance carrier would not pay for it. As a result of the changes in what insurance carriers could and could not do, the carriers will no longer issue policies for children without at least one adult member of the family on the policy with the child. If you have a child with a pre existing condition and have that child on one of the health plans available before September 23, 2010 it would be a great idea to choose one of the health care compliant health plans for that child.

One of the medical conditions that was an automatic decline from insurance carriers was Asperger syndrome or AS. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Asperger Syndrome is a developmental disorder that is characterized by:

repetitive routines or rituals
peculiarities in speech and language, such as speaking in an overly formal manner or in a monotone or taking figures of speech leterally
socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior and the inability to interact successfully with peers
problems with non-verbal communication, including the restricted use of gestures, limited or inappropriate expressions, or a peculiar, stiff gaze
clumsy and uncoordinated motor movements

Some of the treatments available to help, according to the National Institue of Neurological Disorders and Stroke are:

Social skills training
cognitive behavioral therapy
medication for co-existing conditions such as depression and anxiety
occupational or physical therapy
specialized speech/language therapy
parent training and support