In 1996, FEATBC was established to lobby for science-based autism treatment to be covered under the Canadian Medicare system. Since that period, there have been considerable attempts to convince government to finally recognized the fundamental rights of children with autism. Parents have lobbied, advocated and used the courts to make this goal a reality. For a history of advocacy using the courts, please visit our Legal Decisions page.
In 2008, a new organization was established to lobby politicians and force them to finally include children with autism in the Canadian health care, single-payer system. This organization, Medicare for Autism Now!, created a documentary on Canada’s Medicare Orphans which encapsulates the plight of this ever growing group of children. This organization has been fighting for the last 8 years and the government still stubbornly clings to its discriminatory stance.
In contrast, in the United States, there has been considerable movement with respect to the rights of children with autism to have their healthcare needs included in private health insurance and the public Medicaid system. To follow the impressive initiatives of American lobbyists where the vast majority of states (44 of 50 states in 2016) now force the private health insurance companies to cover ABA Therapy, visit AutismVotes.
Below is a history of the variety of initiatives designed to force government into covering children with autism for their core health need: Intensive Behavioural Treatment based on the Principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (pioneered by Dr. O. I. Lovaas).