JUNEAU -- Despite broad support across both party lines, teary testimony from parents and legislators who have autistic children, a bill that would require private insurers to cover autism spectrum disorder is being held up in committee by Wasilla Republican Rep. Wes Keller.
Keller said passing the bill would result in increased insurance premiums for everybody. Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, which opposes the bill, said passage could result in the company increasing premiums by up to 3 percent.
Lorri Unumb with the group Autism Speaks took issue with those numbers. Twenty nine other states have such a mandate. In five of those states, she said that the total cost was around 31 cents a year per member.
Premera is the state's largest private insurer in Alaska. Although it's a nonprofit, in 2011 it made $119 million more than it paid in claims in Alaska and Washington state, where the company is domiciled. All told, according to the company, its surplus rose from $879 million to $972 million in 2011. It's the company's largest surplus in its history.
The surplus is there, said spokeswoman Amy Carter, to protect Premera members "during uncertain times, especially with the implementation of health care reform," she said.
Democrat Rep. Les Gara said that insurance companies tend to be cash cows and their methods of denying people coverage is the "civil rights issue of this decade."
In any case, the autism bill seems to be as much about politics as about insurance premiums. The bill was initially introduced in 2009 by Democratic Rep. Pete Peterson. It was held up in committee in 2010 by Keller, who ultimately ordered a task force to study the issue.
Talk in the halls of the state capitol -- and there's lots of talk in the halls of the state capitol -- is that Keller won't let it go because it was introduced by a Democrat.
Indeed, the bill does seem to have wide support across party lines. It has 28 cosponsors in the House and bipartisan support in the Senate. Even the powerful House Speaker Mike Chenault supports the bill, he said in an interview on Thursday.
Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, is a cosponsor. On Thursday, she suggested that the House take the "nuclear option" of usurping Keller and putting the bill up for vote on the House floor. On Friday, however, she said that she's working with Keller on a compromise, which might involve forming a task force to study the issue.
However, an override is not out of the question. Stay tuned.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amanda@alaskadispatch.com