U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) led a bipartisan call on Tuesday against cuts to reimbursement rates for autism therapy for children of service members.
Under the fiscal year 2017 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, reimbursement rates were cut for Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) treatment for military children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who are covered by TRICARE.
Tillis and Wicker were among a bipartisan group of six senators who called on congressional appropriators in letters sent on Tuesday to reverse the reimbursement cuts.
“ABA therapy is an intensive one-on-one therapy usually conducted at the home of the recipient,” the senators wrote. “One of the objectives of the demonstration program was to provide a single, uniform benefit to the estimated 26,000 TRICARE beneficiaries with ASD, and approximately 40 percent of eligible beneficiaries receive ABA services under this program. We request that you include $32 million in the final appropriations bill that provides funding for the Department of Defense for FY 2017. These funds will ensure that military children with ASD in need of therapy can obtain the services they and their families deserve.”
The letter noted that a “large group of stakeholders” had voiced displeasure with the reduced reimbursement rates for ABA treatment.
“In light of these cuts to reimbursement rates and associated shortages of providers, an amendment to H.R. 5293 was proposed and adopted by voice vote on the House Floor, providing $32 million to reverse the cuts in reimbursement rates to providers of ABA services to military dependents with ASD that the DHA implemented on April 1, 2016,” the senators wrote. “Of note, both the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2017 included language that would reinstate the reimbursement rates to ABA providers that were in effect as of March 31, 2016. In addition to supporting the will of Congress, the $32 million in appropriations would help preserve the success of the autism care demonstration program.”
The letter called on congressional appropriators to include the $32 million in the final appropriations bill that provides funding for the Department of Defense in fiscal year 2017.