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Campaign Awaiting Confirmation of New OPM Director
| Jun 08, 2005 |
| An update is due for all those who visit our site and wonder what has happened to our campaign to secure insurance coverage for ABA therapy.
[For those not at all or not entirely familiar with our campaign, we represent a group of federal employees trying to have federal guidelines amended to force insurance companies providing health benefits for us to offer coverage for ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) therapy for enrollees with children with autism. Our goal is to set a precedent which insurance companies in the private sector would be forced to follow. Changing these guidelines is at the discretion of the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).] As luck would have it, we are between OPM Directors right now. The Bush administration's first OPM Director, Kay Coles James, who, incidentally, did not lend our cause much support, resigned last January, and a new one has yet to take office. In March, President Bush nominated former insurance executive Linda M. Springer to the post, but she has yet been confirmed by the Senate. As we await Mrs. Springer's confirmation, we continue to enjoy good support on Capitol Hill. From the very onset we have had the backing of Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Mike Doyle (D-PA), co-chairs of the 190+ member Congressional Autism Caucus, In addition, we have had support from John Gage, President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), who represents some 600,000 federal workers. Former OPM Director Kay Coles James had denied our request to have ABA therapy covered by insurance companies within the federal health benefits system, but she did not remain in office long enough to have her decision challenged or scrutinized by our congressional supporters. If and when Linda M. Springer is confirmed, we look forward to learning her position on this issue. And we'll take from there. www.abatcc.solvethepuzzle.org |
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