Medicaid Now Required to Cover Autism Services

When Yuri Maldonado’s 6-year-old son was diagnosed with autism 4 years ago, she learned that getting him the therapy he needed from California’s Medicaid plan for low-income children was going to be tough. Medi-Cal, as California’s plan is called, does provide coverage of autism services for some children who are severely disabled by the disorder, in contrast to many states which offer no autism coverage.

Medi-Cal, as California’s plan is called, does provide coverage of autism services for some children who are severely disabled by the disorder, in contrast to many states which offer no autism coverage. But Maldonado’s son was approved for 30 hours a week of applied behavioral analysis (ABA), a type of behavior modification therapy that has been shown to be effective with autistic children, and she was worried that wasn’t enough.
 

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