Especially when the patient is a child. That’s one reason insurance firms and other payers resort to tactics such as the one described here:
UnitedHealth Is Strategically Limiting Access to Critical Treatment for Kids With Autism
The rising number of youngsters who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders has drawn attention from (who else?) the people who pay the bills. Anxious parents are seeking coverage for proven behavioral therapies — and getting turned down flat.
It’s true that such therapies can be expensive and time-consuming, compared to, say, a medication. But for children with autism, they seem to work better than the alternatives.
And it’s also true that the number of families in need is rising fast: “Experts say greater awareness and improved screening have contributed to a fourfold increase in the past two decades– from 1 in 150 to 1 in 36.”
When I was a student in London, I decided to get extra credit by volunteering at a children’s mental health clinic. That was the era when researchers were just beginning to recognize autism. Because of their difficulties communicating, autistic kids were often wrongly identified as having severe intellectual deficits– “subnormal” was the term in vogue during the era.
I still recall one boy, about six, who sat apart from the others, snatching at his scalp with a weird, rhythmic motion. The staff had wrapped his hands in oversized rubber gloves to prevent him from tearing his hair out. I asked the staff what was going on with the boy, and they would simply shrug and explain that even though there wasn’t anything they could do for him, where else could he go? There weren’t any treatment centers for “kids like that.”
Since then, an enormous amount of research has been done, the result being a sophisticated behavioral therapy protocol with interventions that can result in real, measurable progress– for just that sort of child.
They’re still expensive. And for some children, they’re still the best we have.
We should do our best to make them accessible to those in need.
