FEHB & ABA
The Office of Personnel Management, which manages the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB), has released information on insurance coverage for applied behavior analysis (ABA) in 2014. The FEHB program is the nation's largest employer-sponsored health benefits program, covering 8.2 million federal employees, retirees and dependents.
OPM urged its participating providers in 2012 for the first time to include ABA coverage, starting with their 2013 policies. This year, OPM directed participating providers to either cover ABA or explain why they were not including the benefit.
With enrollment for 2014 scheduled to start November 11, OPM said that over 50 participating plans – more plans than in 2013, according to the agency -- in all or part of 21 states and Puerto Rico will offer ABA coverage.
The analysis was provided Monday, just prior to the start of the federal government shutdown. Autism Speaks will review and analyze individual plan offerings when they become available and provide updated information.
