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Addison Rotary Meeting Members present:
Guests: Eileen Valentino, Kevin Connell, Steve Baranick, Angelo Sorce, Pete DiCianni Guests were introduced and welcomed. Don Weiss introduced the speaker for the day, Pete DiCianni. DiCianni owns DiCianni Graphics in Addison and he is a community activist who has worked with the Elmhurst Children's Assistance Foundation which offers assistance to families who live or work in Elmhurst and who have children with medical needs. In the 10 th year of the Foundation's existence, half of the applications were for families with children who have autism. DiCianni's personal experience—having a daughter with autism— also made him aware of the need for insurance coverage for autism services. In Illinois , insurance companies would not typically pay for these services which meant that many children would go without services or their parents would go broke paying for them. DiCianni studied the bills that had been passed by many neighboring states, requiring insurance companies to offer autism coverage and worked to create a bill that could be enacted in Illinois . It took seven attempts, but the bill was signed into law last April. 133 legislators sponsored the bill and it passed by a 154-6 margin. The bill insures children up to 21 years of age for $36,000 per year for autism treatment. DiCianni has passed information and the Illinois version of the bill to President Obama's staff and is hoping that federal legislation will be passed to cover the needs of those who work for large, self-insured ERISA companies—who are not covered by the Illinois law. Meeting was adjourned at 1:30. |