Saint Anselm College Researcher Publishes New Studies and Findings in the Area of Autism Spectrum Disorders (The Academic and Behavioral Impacts of an Autism Health Insurance Mandate: Evidence from Massachusetts): Developmental Diseases and Conditions – Autism Spectrum Disorders

Insurance Daily News

2024 MAR 18 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on autism spectrum disorders have been published. According to news originating from Saint Anselm College by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “Today, all 50 states have enacted mandates requiring some level of insurance coverage for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD).”

Our news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Saint Anselm College: “In this paper, I examine the impact of Massachusetts’ mandate, ARICA (An Act Relative to Insurance Coverage for Autism) on the academic and behavioral outcomes of students with ASD in the state. Using administrative data on Massachusetts public school students, I use a triple difference strategy to estimate impacts on special education setting, attendance, suspensions and achievement. I find that ARICA increased inclusion for students with ASD; they were 4 percentage points more likely to be fully included after the reform. Further, days suspended decreased by about 26 percent, and the likelihood of receiving a suspension decreased by about 2 percentage points.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “I find that improvements in student outcomes were larger for students in grades 6-8 (versus elementary students). While I find no statistically significant improvement in test scores for students with ASD overall, math (English language arts) achievement increased by 0.09 (0.13) standard deviation for students in middle grades.”

For more information on this research see: The Academic and Behavioral Impacts of an Autism Health Insurance Mandate: Evidence from Massachusetts. Education Finance and Policy, 2024. The publisher for Education Finance and Policy is MIT Press.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00420.

Our news editors report that more information may be obtained by contacting Stephanie Coffey, Department of Economics, Saint Anselm College, Manchester.