We’re very proud of the legal team’s recent victory in a lawsuit to bar discrimination against children.

The California Court of Appeal’s decision ended the Department of Managed Health Care’s discriminatory practice of allowing HMOs to deny treatment for autistic children on the basis that such treatment can only be administered through state-licensed providers. Read more here.

A big thank you to the California Department of Insurance, Autism Speaks, and the California Association for Behavior Analysis who provided briefs supporting Consumer Watchdog.  Read their great work at the links above.

The next big issue is to challenge the lack of access to services among Medi-Cal beneficiaries — particularly those who previously were in the Healthy Families program. Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid program serving lower-income families.