TRICARE Issues Comes Up in Hearing

Autism Speaks reports:

Critical questions regarding a one-year ABA pilot program ordered by Congress but yet to be created were left unanswered by TRICARE during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Pressed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who chairs the committee's personnel subcommittee, TRICARE Director Jonathon Woodson said the pilot program would cover ABA technicians, but declined to say when the program would begin, whether dollar caps would be imposed or when military families would begin receiving information. Congress directed late last year that the program be up and running by April 2, but Woodson said the Department of Defense had been unable to meet the deadline due to budget issues. "We are moving ahead with all due haste to set up the program," Woodson told Gillibrand.

The longstanding question of whether ABA is medical or educational came up in the exchange: