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Jenny Whitty's Blog for Sanity

Jenny Whitty

Jenny Whitty
Location
Kansas City, Missouri,
Birthday
April 11
Title
Queen
Bio
I'm a mother of four beautiful children. A teenage daughter, 9 year old son, and 4 and 5 year old boys with autism. I'm juggling a lot, and sometimes I drop it all! Oh, and I'm transforming my former 300 pound body into a more healthy 155 pounds. Doctors orders! Only 105 more pounds to lose - and I won't miss them!

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Salon.com
DECEMBER 19, 2009 8:27AM

No Coverage for Autism

Rate: 1 Flag
 I found out last night that our insurance has denied coverage for Applied Behavioral Analysis in 2010 for my two young sons who have autism.  Sometimes writing helps, but I'm at a loss.  Everytime I think about it tears well up in my eyes and my heart aches. 

We were told there was a possibility there would be even more coverage for ABA in 2010.  I thought my husband's company was ready to do the right thing.  It's so hard to have our hopes up over and over again.  I don't know what we are going to do.  We continue to pay our health care premiums each month.  The state pays $22,000 for children on Medicaid to get therapy - we get nothing.  I find myself pleading with God as I have so many times before since this nightmare started in 2006.  There is no relief in sight now.  Hope is fading away.  It seems like no one cares that toddlers are routinely denied care that would make it possible for them to lead functional lives.  Where is the outcry?  Where is Oprah? 

I've written so many desperate letters to everyone trying to get coverage for this issue.  I hoped something would change before we ran out of money, but I never thought we'd have two children with autism to pay for.  We've run out of time.  All I can do today is weep for my sons, weep for my family, weep for all the families.  I am so tired.

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That stinks. Wracking my old brain for ideas. If you feel comfortable about exposing your children's status, you might want to make your plight public somewhere more effective than OS. Do you have a local newspaper or TV station that you could contact? This could be a big human interest story. Publicity sometimes puts pressure on insurance companies for not doing the right thing. It might also draw donations for your kids.

There have been several fund-raising events in my town lately for kids whose insurance isn't covering their treatment for something or other. One I attended was held at a tavern, with businesses donating items for silent auctions.

My heart aches for you. Wish I had more ideas to offer.
Completely heartbreaking, Jenny. My thought tho is that surely you are not alone and that there must be a group in Missouri for families with autism. In addition, if you connect to such a group you can inundate all the Senators and House people not only from your state but all states. Email or call Keith Olbermann who is outraged by health care-less. I know all about heartbreak, but I say you give yourselves 48 hours more to wallow, then get up and fight. You are not alone. It is disgusting. And you will, if you work a few hard hours a day find a prominent advocate, even in this sucky financial climate. This has to stop. Think of working not only for yourself but for the millions of autistic kids in this country. Worse case scenario: You find a more enlightened state. But fight like hell. That usually leads to reasons for hope. Wishing you the best, and keep us posted. WO