Claremore Daily Progress Editorial

Don’t be fooled by the BCBS propaganda

Claremore Daily Progress, Jan 1 , 2009

On page two of Tuesday’s Daily Progress, you may have seen the article about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma’s announcement that they plan to cover autism treatments beginning in January 2010. They patted the legislature on the back for “allowing the market to work.”

Please do not be fooled. They effectively did nothing more than attempt to create a smoke screen that would slow the calls from constituents to legislators. There is absolutely nothing of substance in these plans. There is no ABA (Applied Behavioral Approach) therapy, no VB (Verbal Behavior) therapy, no HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy).

Autism is a terrible affliction, arguably attributable to the administration of required vaccines on the recommended schedule. In fact, there is no reputable study that points in any other direction.

The dirty little secret is that children can recover from it with the appropriate protocol. The group Defeat Autism Now! (DAN) has made more progress in the treatment of autism in the last 5 years than has been made in the 20 years previous to that. Many children have been recovered and are now indistinguishable from their peers.

Medical insurance is the way that families make sure they can pay for their illnesses when they get them . The insurance companies are lobbying the legislature to require everyone to have insurance, yet they don’t honor the contracts they have.

House Speaker Chris Benge of Tulsa was quoted as applauding this scheme, echoing the remark about the market working, and implying that this might make Nick’s Law unnecessary. If Speaker Benge wants to assume ignorance on the part of his constituency, he may have a rocky two years. It is unconscionable to allow insurance companies to continue this negligence and discrimination.

Senator Jay Paul Gumm, the sponsor of Nick’s Law, got it right when he said, “we do know it will be more than a year before this benefit becomes a reality. While I commend their effort, this appears to be an attempt to ‘put the pin back in the grenade’ and forestall consideration of Nick’s Law in 2009.

He went on to say, “all Oklahoma families deserve autism coverage and they are waiting for their government to stand up for them. We in Oklahoma cherish our children and this fight for them does not end with this attempt to relieve political and market pressures.”