“During his campaign, President Obama committed to $1 billion of annual federal spending on autism by 2012. In October, he identified autism as one of his administration's top three public health priorities. This new prevalence data must compel Congress to take action to fulfill the President's promise in the upcoming FY 2011 budget process,” said Mark Roithmayr, President of Autism Speaks. “In addition to the funding of research, it is also vital that any healthcare reform legislation sent by Congress to the President must include – as both the current House and Senate versions do – an end to insurance discrimination against people with autism by requiring insurers to deliver coverage for behavioral health treatments.”
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Biomedical Research
An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that after a decade rapid increases, the rise in biomedical research funding (from all sources) slowed from 2003 to 2007. In constant dollars, funding from the National Institutes of Health and industry appears to have decreased by 2% in 2008.
