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Committee appoints subcommittees for autism and health-insurance mandate bills after testimony on service gaps
Summary
Chairman Hunt named members to lead subcommittees on Senate Bill 5353 (autism spectrum) and House Bill 1571 (health-insurance mandate). A speaker raised concerns that some children with Down syndrome are being denied coverage for behavioral services and cited a Massachusetts cost estimate of 18¢ per capita.
The Commerce and Consumer Affairs committee on [date not specified] appointed subcommittees to continue work on two health-related bills: Senate Bill 5353 (addressing autism-spectrum topics) and House Bill 1571 (a health-insurance mandate). Chairman Hunt said he will run the subcommittees and named members he expects to participate.
Chairman Hunt said the subcommittee roster will include Hunt, Spear, Julio (as recorded in the transcript) and Waltz/Walsh; he urged members of both parties to participate and said calendars will be published when meetings are scheduled.
During the discussion an attendee who did not identify their name in the transcript summarized research from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to estimate that New Hampshire has roughly 1,800 people with Down syndrome and that, according to NIH data cited by the speaker, about 16% of that population have a co-diagnosis of autism or autism-like symptoms. The speaker warned that behavioral and adaptive interventions are most effective for younger children and that gaps in coverage will leave adults underserved.
That participant also told the committee that children have been "turned away" from coverage in some cases and cited a Massachusetts study figure — "for 18¢, it's some very good bang for the buck" — as an example of a comparatively low per-capita cost used in other states’ analyses.
Committee members did not record a roll-call vote to create the subcommittees; the appointments were announced by the chairman and described as the next step so the committee can pursue detailed review and stakeholder testimony.
The committee directed that both bills be worked by the appointed subcommittees and encouraged stakeholders — including insurers and advocates — to attend upcoming meetings so the panels can examine coverage, effectiveness of behavioral interventions and related funding or authorization questions.
