State health agency proposes ending its Children's Autism Program; services funded through August 2027

Health and Human Services says most of the 655 children served last year had other coverage. Providers and the Autism Society of Texas say families would lose scarce help, and that the state can afford the roughly $14 million.

Texas' health and human services agency has proposed eliminating the Children's Autism Program from its next two-year budget, a move parents and service providers warned could leave families with fewer places to turn, Spectrum News reported Wednesday.

The program, funded by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, serves children ages 3 to 15 and provides services along with training and support for their families. Dropping it would cut about $14 million from the commission's budget across fiscal years 2028 and 2029, according to commission records cited by Spectrum.

The proposal follows Gov. Greg Abbott's order that state agencies reduce their budgets by 3%.

The agency's case

In a statement to Spectrum, the commission called the program a payor of last resort that shares costs with families on a sliding scale and based on whether they have insurance. Of the 655 children it served in fiscal 2025, close to 89% had some form of coverage, and 68% were covered through Medicaid or CHIP, the agency said.

The commission said it picked cuts that would have the smallest possible effect on services, and that children in the program will keep receiving services through the end of August 2027 under current funding.

Providers and advocates push back

Dorothea Lerman, director of the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, said her center works with about 250 families a year, roughly 60 of them paid for through the program, and has a waitlist of at least 200 families. Even families with Medicaid struggle to find providers that accept it, she said.

Jacquie Benestante, executive director of the Autism Society of Texas, testified at a legislative budget hearing in September in favor of keeping the money. She pointed to the billions of dollars in the state's rainy day fund and said there was no need to end the program. Some families already enrolled may begin looking elsewhere, she said.

Autism diagnoses among 8-year-olds rose from 1 in 150 in 2002 to 1 in 31 in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sources

spectrumlocalnews.com

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