Medicaid Admits Mistake On Local Autism Coverage

A northern Kentucky woman with an autistic son is wondering about how to care for her child.

That's because -- by its own admission -- Medicaid made a mistake, WLWT Eyewitness News 5's Brian Hamrick reported Wednesday.

Kentucky Medicaid is getting $250 million worth of cuts, but those cuts aren't the only changes. At least one program that promised to help autistic children now is taking it all back, Hamrick reported.

Linda Dorgan's young son, Tyler, is one of about 7,000 autistic children in Kentucky, Hamrick reported.

"He just needs a lot of structure," she said.

When Dorgan and other parents of autistic children learned of a Medicaid progam that guaranteed help for three years, funding after school therapy and summer programs, she said they breathed one big, collective sigh of relief.

"We all said there is hope and help is out there that we never knew about," Dorgan said.

But it turns out that after just one year, she and others in the program are finding they've been cut, Hamrick reported.

"Now they're saying they made mistakes," Dorgan said. "It's for the elderly or medically fragile. We're in an outrage."

Tyler's funding was sending him to the Redwood Rehabilitation Facility, which helped him with speech and other problems.

"It's very good," Dorgan said. "They get him out in the community and help him with everyday life skills. If he doesn't have this, I'm afraid my son will slip through the cracks."

A letter came to Redwood recently, saying that children like Tyler were no longer eligible. Parents from all over Kentucky with autistic children are scrambling to figure out a solution, Hamrick reported.

"We can't just have our kids babysat by normal babysitters," Dorgan said. "Our kids need structure. There's alot of single parents in this group that has kids with disabilities, and we don't know what we're going to do."

Dorgan is appealing her case, but hasn't been given much hope of winning. Meanwhile, another program is in the works, which would help 140 autistic children. The problem is that there are 50 times as many autistic children in Kentucky, Hamrick reported.

Please follow WLWT Eyewitness News 5 and ChannelCincinnati.com for updates to this story as they become available.