Hillary Clinton announces four-pronged autism initiative

By Jackie Valley

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 | 3:53 p.m.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for president, today unveiled an autism initiative designed to diagnose children sooner, increase treatment options and better support adults with the developmental disability.

The announcement came ahead of Clinton’s campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa, where she discussed her plan during a town hall this afternoon. The former first lady and senator has long championed autism awareness and funding, calling it in 2007 “one of the most urgent — and least understood — challenges facing our children.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in every 68 children in the United States is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which affects the way people learn, behave, communicate and interact with others.

The four tenets of Clinton’s plan revolve around screening and awareness, treatment and insurance coverage, safety and services for children, and community supports and programs for adults. If elected president, Clinton said she would:

• Conduct a nationwide outreach campaign to bolster early screening for autism, especially among African-American, Hispanic and low-income families.

• Push states to require health insurance coverage for autism services, both in the private and Affordable Care Act marketplace, and increase state compliance with Medicaid coverage. She would also work with the Department of Defense to ensure military families have full access to autism services through Tricare, the health insurance program for service members, veterans and their families.

• Launch an “Autism Works Initiative” to secure employment for people with autism. It would involve a post-graduation transition plan for students with autism and public-private partnerships with employers.

• Authorize the first national study examining the prevalence of autism among adults to better understand how to identify and support them. The CDC would conduct the population-level survey, following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom, which conducted a similar study.

Clinton’s campaign staff said the initiative builds on her previous work related to autism. She supported a bipartisan bill in 2000 that increased autism research and, later, introduced in the Senate a bipartisan bill to expand access to services for people with autism.

Briel Paige Josephson, a board-certified behavior analyst at Touro University Nevada’s Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, called Clinton’s proposal a “great starting point.”

“It is realistic in a broad sense, but I think there will be a lot of complications when you get down to the nitty-gritty,” she said.

One of autism advocates’ main concerns is having the workforce in place to treat children once they’re diagnosed with autism. Nevada currently has 203 registered behavior technicians, who provide autism therapy, in addition to 53 board-certified behavior analysts and 13 board-certified assistant behavior analysts, who supervise the RBTs, Josephson said.

That’s not enough to meet the growing demand, she said. As of Jan. 1, Nevada Medicaid began covering applied behavior analysis therapy for children diagnosed with autism.

The problem: The reimbursement rate is too low, making it tougher for treatment providers to recruit, hire and retain the needed workers, Josephson said.

Even so, Josephson said she has been pleased with politicians’ heightened interest in helping people with autism. She was particularly happy Clinton’s proposal focused on supporting adults with autism as well.“There’s a lot of great jobs out there (for people with autism),” she said. “They just need help finding them.”

State officials estimate that 6,000 children in Nevada have been diagnosed with autism. Gov. Brian Sandoval has made autism funding a key priority — last year, at his request, the Nevada Legislature approved an increase in autism funding from $10 million to $75 million.

Clinton will be in Las Vegas on Wednesday for the Battle Born/Battleground First in the West Caucus Dinner hosted by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid.