Autism and Insurance

You have probably heard me post about this before, but my insurance does not cover the diagnosis of Autism, and as such all therapy for my son has to be paid out of pocket.  While I would do anything for my son, my pockets are not that deep, as the "best" places to take him cost around $28,000.00  year for tuition.  Even the cost of speech therapy is too much for my family to afford.  As such, we have tried to educate ourselves on how to best teach our son at home in these necessary skills.  

The frustration is the inability to get my son the qualified help that he needs.  Why is it that autism is not covered by insurance?  Probably because the support is so high.  It can be much like the cost of having  a live-in nurse, or at least a part time nurse that devotes all their face time with one child.  Couple that with the fact that one in 150 children are diagnosed with Autism, it becomes a very costly aspect.  And health insurance companies are all about reducing costs to increase revenues.  Hence, autism is not covered.

But recently, the State of Illinois passed a bill requiring insurance companies to cover Autism up to $36,000.00.  I don't know if that is yearly, or total, but it's a breakthrough for families who have children with autism.  But is it really a benefit?  Do payments go up in order to cover the insurance requirement?  Is it considered a previous condition, thereby making the move to another insurance company devastating to a family, as they immediately lose their autism coverage?  

If there are any readers out there in Illinois that know more about the law, could you reply with comments?  I would like to know what the ramifications of the bill would mean.