Lack of autism coverage forces family out of Oklahoma

After years of pushing for "Nick's Law,” a mandated insurance coverage of autism treatments, the Wayne Rohde family is leaving Oklahoma. They say insurance available in Minnesota will cover expensive autism treatment and therapy.

BY SONYA COLBERG | Published: July 9, 2010 Comment on this article

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The Rohdes led a group of autistic children's parents who traveled regularly to the state Capitol to seek legislation to require insurance companies to cover autism.

The bill to create "Nick's Law” won favor in the Senate but was defeated in a House committee in February 2009. The major sticking point was a House-funded study that concluded that insured Oklahomans' rates could increase nearly 20 percent under an autism mandate, a factor proponents vigorously disputed.

Now the Rohdes' battle is over. The family is moving to Minnesota this month.

'It's the children'

Rohde said now his family will be able to buy insurance covering autism treatment in a home setting. He said he's disappointed that autism is breaking Oklahoma families and that some children may not be getting adequate treatment.

"It's the children,” Rohde said.

His son, Nick, the boy behind the proposed law, sat nearby at the family table, humming an erratic tune only he understood and waving like a conductor. The 12-year-old occasionally took a bite of pot roast from a plastic fork held by his tutor, Caleb Braudrick.

"We don't want handouts. We want to be able to provide for our children through an insurance model,” Rohde said.

He said the family's cost of analysts, tutors, therapists and medications is nearly $40,000 out-of-pocket yearly.

Rep. Jason Nelson said he understands the Rohdes' frustration.

"If I had a child with autism I would fight as long and hard as I could to get what they need,” he said, adding that the Legislature did well under trying budget constraints.

Nelson said while the Legislature was considering Nick's Law, he heard from families with autistic kids who said they wouldn't benefit from a mandate because they were either uninsured or had a federal job that excluded them from the coverage.

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