Autism and Tricare

lindzed

Does anyone have a child with Autism and have tricare insurance?  We do not currently qualify for ECHO because my husband in national guard and not activated currently, and I am really having a hard time figuring out what would be covered.  Of course its Friday and no one will return my calls so now I have to worry all weekend about how in the world we are going to afford all the therapy we need to start soon.  I was able to get answers about OT and ST and we have started, but as far as any ABA therapiest go I'm clueless. 

Thanks!

KelliO924

We are active, so we do qualify for ECHO, but we haven't had to use it yet.  Are you in contact with the early intervention program in your state?  They generally provide your ABA services, then if/when the state no longer covers it, ECHO would pick it up.  Tricare does cover our speech services and our OT assessment (he did not need OT per the assessment), but that is under regular Tricare and not ECHO.  I would suggest putting in a call to early intervention and going from there. 

lindzed

Thanks so much.  I have put in a call to our state early intervention and am not so patiently waiting a return call.  Tricare in general covers most things for us, but its so hard to figure it out before you actually use the service.

KelliO924

No problem!  We're still navigating it as well, and it seems we get a different answer from each different person we talk to, so....

Good luck, I think the early intervention program will be of great help to you guys!

MaxandRuby

While I am not dealing with Autism, a very good friend of mine is (also military). I told her about your post and she had me post this for her:

ECHO is the only option for ABA therapy, Tricare will not cover any of it. There are two options under ECHO but you are right and your child doesn't qualify as daddy is NG. Sucks.

Tricare will cover OT, ST, PT through EI until the child turns 3. If you can get a referral in just before the child turns three, they will cover another year without an argument even if kiddo is in school on an IEP. You need to really push EI for ABA until your child turns three. Once s/he is school age, you may need to start looking into some funding grants, either State or National (ACT Today for military families is a good one) to help with ABA therapy for families who cannot afford it.  Aside from that general stuff, I don't really know what to tell you since I don't know what specifically you are looking for. You need to talk to Tricare directly and find out what your options are.

 

My friend has a site that she likes...very drama free. Just pm me and I can give you my friend's email address (she has given me the ok). Tricare is pretty basic on what they offer.