CMS approves Pennsylvania Medicaid Waiver Program to help residents with autism

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) on Thursday announced that CMS earlier this month granted approval of a waiver program that allows the state to allocate part of its federal Medicaid funds toward services for adult residents with autism, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

According to Rendell, Pennsylvania is the first state to receive permission to use federal Medicaid funds for services aimed at autistic adults. The approval will authorize Pennsylvania to spend $20 million annually for home and community services to benefit autistic adults, the AP/Inquirer reports.

Under the waiver program, up to 200 adults with autism -- who will qualify for the program based on their annual incomes and extent of their disability -- will have access to the public services. According to Anne Bale -- a spokesperson for the state Department of Public Welfare, which manages programs for the disabled -- the federal funds will finance a variety of services, such as respite aid for relatives who care for autistic adults and crisis intervention.

Under a federal special education law, children up to age 21 with autism and other disabilities can access such services at public schools. However, Pennsylvania did not have a similar law for adults with the disorder.

Rendell in a statement said, "Prior to the establishment of this waiver program, there was nothing designed for people with autism once they reached the age of 21." Disability advocates said that the program will allow more autistic adults to avoid institutionalization. "The whole idea is to give them a jump-start," Daniel Torisky, president of the Autism Society of Pittsburgh and secretary of the society's state chapter, said, adding, "It puts them in line for significant and speedy improvement and accommodation to the complexities of our society" (Raffaele, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/23).