Again it looks like AD (active duty) families are rightfully spared the chopping block…this time. But with the raising cost of health care aligned with the rise in diagnosed ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) children; when will the two clash? Some are complaining that Autism is being over and misdiagnosed. Parents are searching for a scapegoat for either their own poor parenting skills, uncontrollable children or lack of a different diagnosis. With all these new cases of ASD coming to the forefront those with extreme or mild ASD are the ones who will eventually suffer. When cases come up with severe ASD children, there might not be enough ABA’s or therapists to handle the case. In the future, something will have to give. I’m thinking we will either see changes to the Tricare ABA policy permanent or the cost share will dramatically go up.
I think what we were all witness to was Tricare dipping their toes in the water. How far can they push until they get a reaction? However, instead of a simple toe dip, Tricare jumped in head first. Luckily, us parents were there to save them before they drowned. Maybe they will learn their lesson. Nevertheless, as a parent, I have a feeling they are going to test the boundaries a few more times.
In an email addressed on July 24th, one day before the new Tricare ABA guidelines were suppose to go into effect, Tricare sent out a passive yet informative email. They wrote “Beginning July 25, 2013, the Department of Defense is expanding autism services available to retirees and other non-active duty family members with the introduction of the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) pilot program. There are no changes to the level of care and service being currently provided to active-duty family members.”
No apologies were written for their abrupt and unemotional apathetic rudeness towards military families with special needs children. But isn’t that one of the first things we teach our children; when to say “sorry”?