AOL Offers Autism Coverage For Employees

To mark the beginning of Autism Awareness Month, AOL Wednesday held a summit at its Ashburn campus to make public its supplemental coverage for pre-approved Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy for children up to the age of nine who have been diagnosed with autism.

In the works since last summer, the coverage took effect for all AOL employees enrolled in the company's medical plan Jan. 1 of this year.

"We're choosing to do it proactively instead of waiting for the state to say you have to provide it," Jackie Gillespie, from AOL's human resources department, said. "We wanted to get the word out there that we had the benefits, and walking out of there today, we have kind of started our own grassroots efforts."

Approximately 90 percent of AOL employees will be eligible for the benefit.

The announcement came a relief to Marina Tuttle, a Lansdowne resident who has been employed by AOL for five years.

"I'm still shocked, in a good way," Tuttle said Wednesday. Tuttle was one of many Loudoun parents who advocated autism coverage before the General Assembly this year. "I spent a lot of time going to Richmond, not knowing that AOL, at least at that point last year, was already working toward making that benefit available to its employees."

For Tuttle, who has a three-year-old son receiving ABA therapy, the coverage, capped at $30,000 annually and $90,000 lifetime, will mean big changes.

"[Addressing autism] is hard not just financially, but emotionally. And knowing that you don't have to look for money, or refinance your house, or cash in your 401k, is very important. For a lot of us, it just saved our lives."

AOL's autism advocate, Dr. Kristie Thompson, said while therapies can cost between $20,000 and $80,000 annually, the coverage would take a "large chunk" of the cost away from parents.

"And you can certainly have an ABA therapy where the $30,000 could cover the entire thing," Thompson said.

The April 1 event was scheduled to introduce Thompson to employees who are parents with autistic children, but turned into a summit, where employees from as far away as New York came to speak about their experiences with their own children.

"Now that we had the summit, we saw that there are so many parents here at AOL alone on this campus effected by autism. We had a full room, at least 30 people there," Tuttle said.

All therapies have to be approved by Thompson before the benefit can be applied, which she said is a measure that will ensure employees are not only using the right providers and getting the right type of therapies, but as a resource to help parents understand the treatment and their role in it. In addition, even after a child's eligibility runs out at the age of nine, Thompson will be available as a resource to parents.

But for those AOL employees who have been searching for an answer for their families for years, the company's decision means more than just health insurance coverage.

"AOL is really making history and setting a precedent," Tuttle said. "It's certainly huge news for the community. Now we can say, hey look, AOL's doing it, why can't other companies do it?"