Autistic and Poor? Too Bad.

Families affected by the twin challenges of poverty and autism could be forgiven for feeling like they're under attack from all sides.

In Missouri, private insurers are trying to make sure that a bill pending in the state legislature mandates as little coverage as possible for autistic kids. In East Los Angeles, where more than one out of four residents live below the poverty line, families were forced to sue after a state-funded nonprofit illegally discontinued therapy to more than 100 children -- a result of the state legislature cutting $300 million in services for the developmentally disabled last year. While autism is an equal-opportunity disorder -- one out of every 70 American boys has some form of autism -- insurance companies and governments seem determined to make sure effective treatment is restricted to the wealthy.

Advocates for autistic children in Missouri have battled insurance companies for nearly a year as the state House and Senate work to pass a bill that would mandate sufficient insurance coverage for autistic children. Depressingly, only 15 states currently have such a law on the books. The Missouri advocates have requested the bill mandate coverage up to $72,000 per year until age 21 for families lucky enough to have comprehensive health insurance. Insurers have made a counter-offer of $32,000 annually for children age three through seven, with steep drop-offs in coverage starting at age eight. That may sound somewhat reasonable until you consider that the Harvard School of Public Health estimates that caring for an autistic person can cost $72,000 a year (or $3.2 million over a lifetime) -- not coincidentally, exactly the maximum that families are asking for. The chairman of the House committee on health insurance says reconciling ideas for the bill is a "priority" for the 2010 session.

More egregious still is the decision by the Eastern Los Angeles County Regional Center to cut off more than 100 children from the pioneering therapy method they rely on. Losing their treatment will literally result in children being forced into institutions because they can't get the services they need at home. The director of the regional center says she won't fund the program because it "doesn’t meet the rigors of science"; those who actually study autism say it can be the most effective therapy for many children. One low-income single mom in East L.A. says the treatment has transformed her violent, dangerous 12-year-old son Benito into a child she can take grocery shopping with her.

Congratulations, California is telling Benito's mom -- now just come up with a spare $72,000 per year to pay for it yourself.

Photo credit: KOMUnews