Reaching out to all of the Delegates

In the late afternoon on Tuesday the 29th, I decided it was time to send a message to the entire House of Delegates, and here's what it said:


Honorable Delegates of the WV Legislature,

My name is Jamie Bailey, I have been a lifelong resident of West Virginia and I am a father of a six year old boy diagnosed with Autism. I am reaching out to you today in relation to HB 4091 – Relating to insurance coverage for Autism, and I am urging you all to get HB 4091 to the floor and pass this crucial piece of legislation as soon as possible.

As a father and very active member of the Autism Community in WV, I have personally experienced, seen and heard of the struggles that our WV families of children with autism spectrum disorder encounter when attempting to provide treatments and therapies for their child. What we have all experienced is that many of the effective treatments and therapies available for our children are denied and other treatments and therapies (such as Speech Therapy for a completely non-verbal child with Autism) that are approved will only be approved for one hour a week and never for an entire year. It is for this reason that children with autism spectrum disorder are either getting the bare minimum in treatments and therapies (and in many cases none at all) or the families of children with autism spectrum disorder are doing everything they can for their child and going bankrupt in the process, as well as divorcing. Recently the National Autism Association released to the public that the divorce rate of families of children with Autism is an overwhelming 80%, with the primary reason for divorce being financial hardship.

If gone untreated, autism spectrum disorder can be a lifelong disorder where each child that will eventually grow up into an adult will need 24 hour care. However, if detected early and treated appropriately, significant gains will be acquired and recovery for our children with autism spectrum disorder is possible – but this cannot happen without appropriate insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorder.

In closing, I again sincerely urge you all to move swiftly and support this very important piece of legislation for our residents with autism spectrum disorder, where every day that passes is a day of treatment that is missed that our children cannot get back.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Sincerely,

Jamie Bailey


What was surprising was the responses that I received... (see next blog)