The Senate approved a provision on Tuesday that U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) led to prevent reduced reimbursement rates for autism care for service members’ families.
The bipartisan provision led by Tillis and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was included in the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which will now advance to the president’s desk for consideration.
The provision would reset reimbursement rates for applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy for military dependents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to levels in place in March under the TRICARE Autism Care Demonstration program.
“During the past year, Sen. Gillibrand and I have been working across the aisle to help restore reimbursement rates for ABA providers, and I’m pleased our provision was included in the NDAA,” Tillis, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said. “I now look forward to working with appropriators in the House and Senate to ensure that we provide for our military families.”
In March, Tillis and Gillibrand urged the secretary of defense to delay rate adjustments until completion of the demonstration project to ensure continued access to ABA therapy for 26,000 children of military personnel with ASD.
“I am so pleased that we were able to come together and roll back these rates to ensure that providers continue to participate in the Autism Care Demonstration program and that our military families have access to the critical services, care and support they need and deserve,” Gillibrand said.
Three TRICARE programs that covered ABA services were combined into a single program administering a single benefit for care under the demonstration program.