NCAAS Applauds Omnibus Legislation for Promoting Access to Autism Therapy

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Coalition for Access to Autism Services (NCAAS) today applauded the newly enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 for its focus on expanding mental health parity, which will increase equitable access to mental health services including applied behavior analysis, a scientifically proven therapy for people with autism and their families.

"We are thrilled that Congress included a provision championed by NCAAS in its recent omnibus package," said Julie Kornack, founding board member of NCAAS. "This demonstrates lawmakers' ongoing commitment to achieving true mental health parity that will make ABA more accessible, particularly to people and families who have been historically marginalized or are of limited means."

"NCAAS has been working for several years to educate lawmakers about how health plans systematically deny coverage of ABA based on practices and guidelines that violate the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). We're gratified to see our efforts pay off," Kornack said.

The omnibus package, which funds the federal government through fiscal year 2023, includes language NCAAS championed urging the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury to increase the impact of work they started two years ago to assess whether health plans were complying with federal mental health parity laws.

A report published by the three agencies in January 2022 found that health plans frequently impose improper non-quantitative treatment limitations on ABA. When the agencies asked health plans for comparative analyses to show that these limits did not violate mental health parity laws, plans either removed problematic provisions or failed to file accurate or timely analyses. As a result, final determinations about the legality of the provisions were not made. That limited the impact of the agencies' effort to the individual plan in question.

"Non-quantitative treatment limitations create unfair barriers for people who already have trouble accessing mental health services like ABA," Kornack said. "The language we sought to include in the omnibus package has the potential to provide greater clarity to health plans, providers, and patients alike by publicly identifying policy limits that violate MHPAEA, giving all health plans the opportunity to remove similar discriminatory limits."

 For more information or to speak with a representative of NCAAS, please contact Cooper Rumrill at [email protected] or (202) 980-4968.

The mission of The National Coalition for Access to Autism Services is to advocate for access to effective autism treatment. NCAAS is the voice of service providers and other constituents who help Americans with autism achieve their full potential. NCAAS believes Americans with autism deserve affordable coverage that ensures access to quality treatment. NCAAS members provide services to individuals across a range of private and public programs, including commercial insurance through employer-sponsored plans and the individual market, Medicaid, Medicaid managed care, and TRICARE.

SOURCE National Coalition for Access to Autism Services