WXIA-TV

'Every family we meet is struggling.'

As the Assistant Director of the Emory Autism Center, Michael Morrier says he gets more than a half dozen calls from desperate parents every day.

"'I get phone calls from parents, probably seven a day, that want to know what we offer and we tell them, and they say 'I can't afford that.'

"But for those who can afford the $25,000 dollar a year tuition, The Walden Early Childhood Center at the Emory Autism Center can be life changing for a child with autism."

 I wonder if anyone is asking why we suddenly need expensive schools for a disorder no one ever heard about 25 years ago.  I'm sure lots of people think that if there were really a problem, doctors and health officials would be sounding an alarm about autism---BUT THEY'RE NOT.

MI NBC: Lt. Gov. Calley: autism insurance reform will help families

"Insurance companies are now required to cover autism diagnosis and treatment and cover up to $50,000 in therapy for kids between the ages of two and six.

"Prior to the reform, it was difficult for the average family to pay out-of-pocket for the recommended 20 to 40 hours of therapy each week."

Just as we've gotten used to hearing that more than one percent of children have autism, we're being told insurance should have to cover services--on a state-by-state basis.  All this is happening without any demand to know why this is necessary.  Why do we have these disabled kids who never used to be here?  I'm betting that the cost of caring for the autistic adults who will keep on coming and coming and coming will not be something the taxpayers will meekly accept.  I posted several comments.

Albany (NY) Times Union

"Regardless of all the unanswered questions, autism is a common condition. More and more children are in need autistic services than ever before to identify the disorder at early ages and work with families to help their children transition to adulthood."

The real title of this piece should be, "Numerous career opportunities in autism."

This is surreal.  Autism affects a lot of kids.  We used to think it was mostly genetic, but now we know it's mostly environmental.  Lots of things could be causing autism; we really don't know what's behind the increase.  

"Regardless of all the unanswered questions, autism is a common condition."

"The number of special education teachers is expected to increase by 17% through 2018, which is faster than the average growth rate for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."

I guess losing a generation of children to autism has a bright side---there are going to be lots of people making their living off all the disabled kids.  Maybe someone should consider that we also have to pay for those with autism.  That doesn't seem to worry anyone here. (There was no place for comments.)

NBC News

'The flu vaccine barely worked to protect elderly people this year, and it helped prevent illness in just 56 percent of adults and children overall, federal health officials said Thursday.

'The flu vaccine reduced the chances of illness by just 9 percent in people over 65, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Overall, it reduced illness by 56 percent.

'Although this year's vaccine was considered a good match for the most common circulating flu viruses, it still only provided 47 percent protection against the main virus, called H3N2, the CDC said in its weekly report on death and illness.'

Maggie Fox, senior writer at NBC News, has long defended vaccines against all comers. The issue here is the effectiveness of the vaccine.  It's amazing but despite the poor record of this vaccine, an expert is quoted telling us, 'While the vaccine is not as effective as we would like, it by far remains the single most important thing people can do to protect themselves from flu.'  Hard to believe, but it's true.

LifeHealthPro

"A state can decide for itself how it wants its official "essential health benefits" (EHB) package to handle services for children with developmental disorders.

"A state also will have at least two options for deciding how it wants to handle pediatric dental and vision benefits in the EHB package.

"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has confirmed that it will be taking that approach to running the EHB program in an advance version of a new final rule, 'Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Standards Related to Essential Health Benefits, Actuarial Value, and Accreditation' (CMS-9980-F). ...

"States, insurers, employers and groups representing parents of children facing developmental delays have spent years fighting emotional battles over whether states should mandate that plans provide coverage for expensive habilitative services, such as applied behavioral analysis (ABA) for people with autism. ABA therapy and similar types of therapy can cost $30,000 a year or more."

For years the federal government has covered up, denied, and obfuscated the issue of autism. Personally, I've long felt they're planning to dump the whole mess on the states while U.S. health officials continue to scratch their heads chanting "studies show no link" and "no one knows how much of the increase is real." The upcoming changes to the DSM are just a preview of what's coming.

Can someone please explain this to me?

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Standards Related to Essential Health