Moving out of state to get autism treatment

Before Wendy Radcliff agreed to marry Scott Finn, she made it clear they would have to live in her home state of West Virginia.

Politically active, Radcliff loved West Virginia and wanted to spend her life there, helping to make it a better place. The couple married, had a son, Max, and built their life together in Radcliff’s hometown of Charleston.

Then, just before his second birthday, Max was diagnosed with autism.

Radcliff had insurance — good insurance, she says — through West Virginia’s Public Employees Insurance Agency, which she received through her work for the state. But although PEIA paid for the autism diagnosis, it would not pay for the prescribed treatment — applied behavior analysis, or ABA. There are a similar models that go by different names, but ABA is by far the best-known.

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Time is of the essence when treating kids with autism, and Max’s parents knew that time was running out for them in West Virginia.

Faced with huge financial pressures and not wanting to miss their treatment window, Radcliff and Finn did what many autism parents do: They moved to a state where autism anti-discrimination legislation had been passed. Finn had a job opportunity in Florida, and they jumped on it.

Read more here: Moving out of state to get autism treatment – CNN.com.