Good Deed of the Day

Okay, everyone, here's a really quick good deed you can accomplish today. Click on the link below to read about a new piece of federal legislation being introduced, entitled the Autism Treatment Acceleration Act of 2009. If you agree, then click on the "Take Action on the AATA..." link in the red section on the right. This will enable you to ask your own state senators to support the bill.

http://www.autismvotes.org/site/c.frKNI3PCImE/b.4784269/k.C0E5/ATAA.htm

One of the biggest components of this legislation would be to require insurance companies to provide coverage for medically-necessary autism treatments and therapies. I know that issues like this really hit home when you have a personal story to accompany it. Here's an excerpt from an email from my friend Rachel, whose son was diagnosed with autism:

"As you know, Luke turns 5 next January and at that point his Speech and Physical therapy are no longer covered by insurance. I find this terribly unfair that other kids with speech or cognitive delays are covered but Luke is not (specifically because his diagnosis is Autism). Without insurance coverage the cost for these two therapies alone would be > $16,000 / year.
In addition, the ABA therapy we do at home ($25/hour) has never been covered and we pay for that out of pocket already. This national initiative is working to resolve these issues and require insurance companies to pay for this coverage."

Thanks for taking a few minutes to support an extremely worthy cause!