Health insurance premiums rise for Missouri autism services

Health Autism Insurance Coverage

Health Insurance Autism CoverageA newly released report has shown that the cost of coverage for treatment in the state is increasing.

A report has just been released that has revealed that the payments being made for health insurance that covers treatments that are related to autism spectrum disorders have been sharply rising over the last year in Missouri.

In fact, the data in the report indicated that the coverage costs rose by over half in 2012.

This data indicated that health insurance that would cover treatments for autism saw a spike in its rates by over 50 percent in 2012 alone. This is a tremendous expense for some families that are already facing higher costs for a condition that requires many different types of treatment, care, special products, and other elements that are often not covered.

The health insurance increases for the autism related treatments affected thousands in the state.

According to the Missouri Department of Insurance, in 2012, there were over 2,500 people who received treatments for various autism spectrum disorders in which those treatments were covered by health insurance.

That said, the health insurance claims also rose considerably in the area of autism treatments. The Department also reported that while payouts in 2011 for treatments of this nature totaled approximately $4.3 million in Missouri, that rose to $6.6 million last year.

In January 2011, a new law took effect in Missouri, which made it a requirement for health insurance companies to provide coverage for certain approved treatments for autism spectrum disorders. Since that time, the premiums that have been paid on policies that provide that type of coverage have been steadily climbing, with the tremendous spike last year.

The average customer that was receiving autism treatments received approximately $2,000 in services for the condition last year. This is well below the legally required annual cap of $40,000.

While the claims on autism health insurance policies have been rising, they still make up only a small percentage of the total claims that are paid out by medical insurers for all of the covered conditions. This year will be a defining one to help to identify actual trends in that domain.

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