Ideas for Change

ASAN Southwest Ohio would like to encourage autistic self-advocates to participate in an online competition sponsored by Change.org to present ideas for change to the new presidential administration and Congress.

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 31st of December, is the last day for voting. There are several proposed ideas that would be useful to autistic citizens, including the following:

Fully Fund Medicaid Waivers for the Developmentally Disabled
Replace No Child Left Behind With a Strong Education Policy
Independence and Services for Disabilities and Autism

You must register and sign in with a Change.org account in order to vote in the competition.

Health Insurance in Ohio

In today's difficult economy, many people are finding it hard to get or keep jobs that provide health insurance. A mother recently contacted ASAN Southwest Ohio with an inquiry regarding insurance options for her autistic son, who was working part-time in a position that did not provide health insurance. He was about to turn 19 years old, which was the age cutoff for dependent coverage under the mother's health policy.

We provided information about Ohio's Medicaid health insurance program for workers with disabilities. Ohio has a buy-in program that was created to enable Ohioans with disabilities to work and still have access to Medicaid health care coverage. The program covers both part-time workers and full-time workers. Depending on a worker's income, premium payments may or may not be required.

In addition, we advised her to check with her health insurance company to find out if her policy allowed continuing coverage for adult children with disabilities after the usual age cutoff.