Attorney helped lead effort for autism reform legislation
By Steve Thorpe
Legal News
Miller Canfield attorney Ron Hodess didn’t need to read any white papers or studies to understand the impact of autism on Michigan families as he advocated for legislation to help them.
“I have two boys, Jay and Andy, now 19 and 16. Both of them were diagnosed with autism at about age three,” says Hodess. “My wife, Sue, and I have been living with autism for a long time.”
His law firm, Miller Canfield, is “self-adopting” added insurance benefits for lawyers and staff raising children with autism. Although the firm’s insurance plan is self-funded and not affected by Michigan Autism Reform legislation passed in March 2012, it has chosen to participate.
Hodess is proud of his firm’s proactive approach to the challenges of having an autistic member of the family.
“They’ve been out front on the issue,” he says. “As soon as the legislation passed, Miller Canfield wanted to take the lead in adopting the coverage. Not just for the benefit of their employees, but because it’s the right thing to do. We’re hoping other law firms will follow.”
The firm is offering the benefit to all U.S. employees — regardless of Michigan residency — for the diagnosis and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders. The coverage began on Jan. 1.
Hodess is a member of the board of directors of the Autism Alliance of Michigan, which advocated for the passage of the new law. He is also on the board of directors of the Friendship Circle Autism Alliance of Michigan and active with the Autism Society of America, Oakland County Chapter.
His awareness of the condition evolved and grew at the same time the nation was beginning to focus on it.
“It is an epidemic. It’s not just something that we’re now noticing,” he says. “In the ‘80s, when I was growing up, the first time I heard the word autism was in the movie ‘Rain Man.’ And now it’s everywhere. It would be great if we knew why, but we don’t.”
Hodess and his wife became especially aware of the crushing financial burden that autism treatment can impose on families.
“We were fortunate enough to have the resources to pay for it. Most families don’t,” he says. “At one of the schools we went to, the Early Intervention Center, it could cost between $3,000 and $5,000 a month. But we saw progress. We saw our younger son ‘learning how to learn.’”
As Hodess and others realized that Michigan needed to do something in the legislative arena, he and others began to organize their efforts in Lansing.
“I started out working with a group of committed parents who said, ‘We need this legislation. It will help so many kids. What can we do?’” Hodess says.
The parents brainstormed and Hodess ended up being the liaison between the parents and business leaders.
“Right when I was getting involved, I got a call from Dave Meador who’s the CFO of DTE Energy and a client and he said, ‘Hey, I hear you’re getting involved with this issue. I totally agree with you and this (legislation) is the one thing that can help the most people. Let’s go do it.’ He was a tremendous advocate for the legislation. He gathered broad support from the business community and then we all went together to the legislature.”
Among the other Michigan companies taking the lead on autism policies are Meijer and Quicken Loans.
After the measure failed to be adopted its first time out, Hodess realized that it would take just the right mix of ingredients to get it passed.
“To get something like that passed in Michigan you needed the support of many different constituencies,” he says. “You needed parents, you needed Autism Speaks at the national level, you needed the business community and you needed the politicians.”
A big boost to their efforts was when a new administration arrived in the governor’s office.
“Then Brian Calley got elected (as Lieutenant Governor) and he had a three-year-old daughter who had just been diagnosed,” Hodess says. “To have him as an ally really helped move it forward.”
Because the state didn’t mandate any sort of autism coverage, Michigan also had an acute shortage of therapists with autism training. The state had 80 autism therapists, while in comparison Florida reportedly had 10,000.
Now Hodess believes that imbalance will gradually disappear and therapists will be attracted to Michigan.
“That’s just one of the spinoffs from the legislation. But perhaps the bigger one is not having young therapists leave the state,” he says. “My niece, who basically grew up with my kids, and learned from them while they learned from her, became a speech therapist. When she was 20, she was thinking, ‘I’ll go to a state that’s got it covered,’ and now she’s still working with kids with autism at one of the local hospitals.”
Hodess acknowledges that the effort was a lot of hard work, but he feels a tremendous sense of satisfaction now that the effort has been successful.
“That’s one of the reasons I became a lawyer,” he says. “Having the resources and support of a firm like Miller Canfield, it allowed me to help move this forward.”
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