Logan Cabiao has a severe form of autism and is nonverbal.At 10 years old, his parents say, he needs round-the-clock support and supervision.
Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.Logan cannot brush his teeth or use the bathroom on his own.Routine doctor’s appointments can become so overwhelming that his parents sometimes need to sedate him.
In crowded places he may run off without warning, they say.When he was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2, his parents turned to applied behavior analysis, or ABA, a therapy commonly used to help children learn daily life skills and limit harmful behaviors.The treatment gave Logan access to a therapist who worked with him throughout the day.
Logan CabiaoCourtesy Kristi Cabiao “I was so desperate to start ABA,” said his mother, Kristi Cabiao, of Niceville, Florida.“We were tired.
We hadn’t been sleeping.” But in 2021, TRICARE — the military’s healthcare program that covers Logan through his father, Mario Cabiao, a retired Air Force pilot — imposed new requirements for ABA coverage.It added roadblocks to access and significantly narrowed the range of services available.
The new rules included stricter paperwork, mandatory assessments, limits on certain services and the use of “autism services navigators,” who must approve a child’s overall care plan before TRICARE will pay for treatment.The program also stopped covering most services in school settings.
While Logan continues to receive some ABA care at a nearby center, his most hands-on sessions involving basic activities — such as toothbrushing, handwashing and getting dressed — are no longer covered.“They said that’s babysitting,” Kristi Cabiao said, recalling a virtual Q&A she attended with the Defense Health Agency, which oversees TRICARE.“It was really offensive.”NBC News reported last month that many TRICARE beneficiaries in a different part of the countr...