Heather Nichols of Lawrence said she considers herself lucky.

Once a stay-at-home mom, she said she was able to return to work as a financial analyst to help pay for the $1,000 per month for treatment of her 3-year-old son Josh’s high-functioning autism.

“I feel fortunate that we can pay for it. Other people, whose kids are more severe, must pay more than that,” Nichols said Thursday.

And experts say it is that high cost of treatments that results in many children with autism not getting diagnoses and not getting needed developmental therapies.

Nichols and her husband, Jason, are pushing for passage of Senate Bill 12, which would require insurance companies to cover the diagnostic evaluation and treatment for autism disorders.

Currently, most policies exclude this coverage.

A public hearing at the Statehouse in Topeka was packed with parents of autistic children, medical professionals and advocates pushing for the bill.

Opposing the bill are insurance companies and business groups, who say requiring coverage would drive up the cost of insurance for everyone else and may cause some employers to stop providing coverage.

William Sneed, representing America’s Health Insurance Plans, said Senate Bill 12 would “unwisely shift the cost of what is a very difficult public health challenge.”

The measure was also opposed by the Kansas Association of Health Plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, and business groups including the Kansas Chamber.

State Sen. Ruth Teichman, R-Stafford, chairwoman of the Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, said she didn’t know whether the committee would work on the bill.

“I’m very concerned with getting those children services,” Teichman said. But, she added, she was also concerned that a mandate on insurance companies could increase premiums.

But Nichols and doctors who treat autism say providing coverage would increase early intervention, and that in the long run would be less expensive for taxpayers.

Early treatment will improve the development of children with autism, allowing about half of them to attend school and be successful without any special support, said James Sherman, a professor in the applied behavioral science department at Kansas University.

“The future savings to the state of Kansas of effective early intervention, in terms of adolescent and adult services not needed, as well as the positive contributions of the people as workers and citizens when they become adults, is easily in the millions of dollars for each child served,” Sherman said.

Nichols, who could not attend the hearing but has been active in pushing for the legislation, agreed, saying, “Basically without treatment, these kids will never be able to live independently.”