The Insurance Industry Doesn't Want It!" Gov. Jay Nixon on Insurance for Autism

Watch this six minute video on Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri present angrily and eloquently on the failure of the autism insurance bill passage in his state. Paraphrasing, "We have coverage for Alzheimers..."  "The industry has survived other mandates. Mammograms, prostate screening."  If the video doesn't download on AoA for you, click HERE to go to You Tube. 

Thank you, Governor. And thanks for keeping the insurance industry and weak politician's feet to the fire.  Thank him yourself HERE.

Comments

[Autism Grandma]

We live in Missouri and are very proud to have Jay Nixon as our governor. It is not many who are in political power who are willing to support the autism community like he is doing. When I watched him speaking in this video I got the mental image of a "Knight in Shining Armour Going into Battle against the Fire Breathing Dragon" and I wanted to write and thank him, but between out of town company and helping with my grandson's care I just now finally wrote this letter. We all have so many things to do, but I just hope that people are sending him letters of appreciation even if they don't live in Missouri.

Dear Governor Nixon,

I learned about your dedication to the Missouri autism community through an article in Age of Autism, and watched the video of you speaking about the health insurance issue. I am so grateful for your recognition and support of so many children with autism who are desperately in need of therapy which they cannot receive unless the insurance companies provide coverage. I greatly appreciate your determination as I realize that you have a fight on your hands due to the insurance lobby who will continue to resist this until they are finally forced by law.

My grandson developed regressive autism immediately after his last batch of vaccines at age 1, at which time 9 vaccines were given to him at once. I cannot describe in words the devastation of this impact upon not only his life but his mother and myself. In the last 2 years we have provided nutritional therapies which has greatly improved his condition, however he is still in need of so much more, and we do not have the financial ability to provide expensive therapies that would further improve his autism such as ABA, Speech therapy, and Hyperbaric Oxygen. My daughter and I have contributed every dime that we can get our hands on towards his diet, nutritional products, testing and medical care, and there is simply no possible way to pay for further therapies unless covered by insurance. And we are just one family of so many who are "in the same boat".

Since there was only 1 in 10,000 cases of autism when my daughter was born 37 years ago before the vaccine schedule quadrupled, this fact along with so much other supporting evidence, demonstrates that reform in the vaccine industry is required in order to stop this current epidemic. This is indeed the greater issue since "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", but in the meantime, all of these vaccine injured children and their families are suffering terribly without the assistance of necessary therapies.

GOD BLESS YOU!!!

[insurance]

I love reading this article, a very informative one. Nice article.

[Paul]

God Bless you Governor.
You are right on target.

As for those who are
responsible for preventing
the bill from coming to
the floor for a vote, be it
the legislators or insurance
company representatives,I have
this wish for you:

"May just a gentle touch of
Autism Spectrum disorder touch
your lives!"

Paul S New York State

[Kevin Barry]

Cheers to the voters of Missouri for elevating a man like Governor Nixon.

[K Fuller Yuba City]

I just sent this video to Gov Arnold here in California. There is probably a Youtube block on their system though, because we all know how hard they are working in California!
And I emailed a thank you to Gov. Nixon.
At least his email system accepts email from people outside of his voting population!

[curtis]

I believe the insurance industry pays for "well baby visits" where you can get eight or nine vaccinations for your baby on the same day....

[Stagmom]

His phones must be swamped - I can't get through to thank him! I sent an email yesterday.

[Anne Dachel]

What is it about autism that doesn't elicit overwhelming compassion, a demand for answers, and a feeling that we must do something for these kids?

I've never been able to figure that out. Maybe it's officials calling it "a mystery" all the time instead of a tragedy.

The fight over insurance coverage is the absolute proof that autism is an epidemic; that a once-rare disorder is now so common that everyone knows someone with an autistic child and no one can reasonably explain why. If these children had always been here, we'd have plenty of services already in place. We'd have teachers trained in working with these kids.

Insurance companies don't want to cover these kids BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM AND THEY KNOW IT. I bet they have the real autism rate that is being carefully hidden by the CDC.

In the end, it all boils down to postponing the problem. Either we pay now or we're going to be bankrupt later. AUTISM, THE EPIDEMIC, ISN'T GOING AWAY.

Anne Dachel
Media

[bensmyson]

""therapist" with 3 hours of ABA training feeding my kid m & m's when she touched her nose upon command."

That absolutely caused me to nearly fall out of my chair laughing.

[curtis]

Governor Jay Nixon is certainly an asset to the State of Missouri and the Autism Community.

I met him a few months back and was able to provide his staff with a package of my "favorite highlighted pages" of Autism information.

The lack of a Missouri vote on this insurance issue involved the conduct of one person on one committee.

[Keith]

Insurance is one of the big money players in Missouri. They get what they want.

Not calling the vote (when they knew it would pass) was a similar tactic used for the original draft of the thimerosal bill.

(there were insurance lobbyists at those hearings too - they were worried about having to pay for thimerosal-"free" vaccinations. I guess it means they had to do another back room deal with pharma to pay less than a consumer would pay)

[Diane]

I love his passion. I love that he tells it like it is about the insurance companies' position. (I just KNOW there's a special place in hell for the insurance executives - acutally I could name a few). But i still wanna hear someone in government talk about medical treatments for our kids' medical issues. From my personal experience, glutathione ivs are far more effective than a "therapist" with 3 hours of ABA training feeding my kid m & m's when she touched her nose upon command.

[bensmyson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK2Wrb4FAj4

About 4 minutes in he rips the insurance industry and their waterboys a new one.