Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., sent a letter June 26 to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urging the Defense Department to act on a report regarding Tricare’s autism program.
A September National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report analyzed the Defense Department’s Comprehensive Autism Care Demonstration. The report recommended the Defense Health Agency discontinue the demonstration and greenlight coverage of applied behavior analysis as a basic benefit under Tricare. It also recommended dropping periodic assessments and parenting stress indices, allowing providers more freedom to choose evaluation tools, and granting more school- and community-based care flexibilities.
The recommendations aim to align ABA services with industry guidelines and standards of care, as well as cut back on possible barriers to care. The senators said the 12 years of the demonstration “should be sufficient to determine the effectiveness of a medical treatment.” They added that months have passed since the report’s release, but the Defense Department has not acted upon the recommendations.
“We urge that the department take immediate action to adopt all these recommendations, especially the recommendation to make ABA a basic benefit under the Tricare program,” the June letter said. “Our military families, especially those with autistic children or children with other developmental disabilities, are entitled to receive the best possible care.”
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