State Insurance Mandates for Autism Spectrum Disorder

The number of states that require health insurance coverage for autism continues to grow, whether through specific or limited coverage requirements or mental health parity. Those states that have specific or limited coverage generally cover speech language services through habilitative (learning a new process), rehabilitative (relearning a once known process) or therapeutic (treating through remedial methods) care.

Listed below is how each state addresses autism coverage though its state statues.

States with Specific Autism Mandates

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin require certain insurers to provide coverage for autism spectrum disorder.

States with Limited Autism Mandates

Maryland, Oklahoma, and Tennessee have some limited autism mandates.

States with Mental Health Parity

Alabama, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, and Washington have a mental health parity law that may include autism spectrum disorder as a covered mental illness.

States with No Coverage

Four states do not have specific insurance coverage mandates for autism spectrum disorder and either do not have a mental health parity law or that the mental health parity law does not include autism spectrum disorder as a covered mental illness:

• Alaska (no parity)
• Delaware (not included)
• South Dakota (not included)
• Wyoming (no parity)