Jim Patterson May 18.jpg

Rep. Jim Patterson, R-Meridianville, sponsor of the autism bill, said parents played an important role in driving the bill to passage.

((Mike Cason/mcason@al.com))

A bill to require many insurance plans to cover therapy for children with autism won approval early this morning in the Alabama House of Representatives.

The House voted 102-0 to accept changes to the bill made by the Senate.

That sends the bill to Gov. Kay Ivey, who could sign it into law.

Parents of children with autism helped drive the bill to passage, showing up in large numbers at the State House to attend hearings and committee meetings.

Parents and advocates say applied behavior analysis is vital for children with autism, especially at early ages. The therapy can be too expensive for many families without insurance coverage, advocates said.

"We can all sleep good tonight," said Rep. Jim Patterson, R-Meridianville, the bill sponsor. "There's a lot of families up listening tonight waiting for this bill to pass."

The coverage mandate applies to companies with at least 51 employees and to services for children up to age 18.

The mandate for public insurance plans would not take effect until Dec. 31, 2018.

Those include the insurance plans for state employees and education employees, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as ALL Kids.

The Business Council of Alabama and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama opposed the mandate.

The BCA noted that the Legislative Fiscal Office provided no cost estimate for the bill and that the delay in implementation for public insurance plans means that many children won't immediately be covered.

Blue Cross Blue Shield offered to provide the coverage without a mandate for children up to age 16 in its large group, underwritten plans.

Patterson said the involvement of parents and their children was a decisive factor in overcoming opposition.

"It ought to show the public that their lobbying counts a lot, and their lobbying should be the main thing," Patterson said. "And I think the reason this had a 100 percent vote tonight is that people are hearing from their people back home."

Patterson said he opposed some of the limitations on the coverage mandate but said the bill provided a good starting point.

"We made a lot of progress," Patterson said. "There's more progress to be made."