MichiganRadio

Final autism hearing in senate LANSING, MI (MPRN) - Advocates told a state Senate panel Tuesday that Michigan is heading for serious problems and expenses if it does not require insurance companies to cover autism treatment.

Lorri Unumb is with the advocacy group Autism Speaks, and is the mother of a 9-year-old child with autism. She told lawmakers that about 15-thousand children in Michigan have been diagnosed with autism, and that number is growing.

"Looking at this curve, there is a huge autism tsunami that is about to hit Michigan. And it's going to cost an extraordinary amount of money in special education, adult care, institutionalization, if this current generation of kids doesn't get the treatment that it needs. Without private insurance playing its part, that treatment simply is not going to happen."say's Unumb.

"Eighty-three cents, per member, per month increase, to cover all the children with autism. I haven't met a single person in Michigan who isn't willing to pay an extra 83 cents per month so that all of these kids can get the treatment they need."

The Legislature is in the final stages of negotiating a measure that would require insurers to offer coverage for autism treatments. Twenty-three other states have approved similar legislation.

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