A Biomedical Autism Doctor Explains Why Autism Treatment Can Be Costly
Money is always as issue when it comes to medical care. This is particularly true for parents seeking treatment options for their autistic child. In many cases insurance companies do not pay (or pay limited amounts) for even traditional services such as speech, occupational or behavioral therapy. Unfortunately, insurance coverage for biomedical interventions such as supplement therapy, diagnostic medical testing, dietary services, etc. is limited as well.
There is no doubt that medical care is expensive – particularly when someone is paying out of pocket. However, in many cases it has to be done if a parent wants to get excellent care for their child. In the world of autism, particularly biomedical interventions, many therapies are out-of-pocket expenses because traditional insurance coverage is very limited in what it will approve. This also goes for doctor visits and consults.
One of the real issues in treating children on the autism-spectrum is the fees many doctors have to charge to stay in business. It is not uncommon for a physician to charge $350 to $500 per hour for their service. Up front this seems extreme, but one must understand that the time involved in treating an autistic child with all of their medical complexities takes a tremendous amount of time and education.
A typical initial visit with a biomedical autism doctor can take 60 to 90 minutes, and follow-ups 30 to 45 minutes. For most doctors if they were submitting for insurance reimbursement under the typical HMO format their costs and overhead would dictate most office visits to 10 to 15 minutes. In most situations, this is just not enough time to provide the care that is needed to be a biomedical autism specialist. Furthermore, with the rising costs of running a medical practice – from office staff fees, insurance, workman’ s compensation, lease payments and more, the fees that a physician charges (although it seems high) will barely cover a physician’s overhead. If this doctor also has medical school debt (which for many can be in the 10’s to 100’s of thousands of dollars) the price of biomedical intervention can be costly on both sides – for the parent and the physician. Aside from these issues, most doctors providing this specialty service are doing so because they want to help and serve the autism community. The stark reality of running a practice and making a living, however, dictate the higher prices for biomedical intervention.
