In states such as Alabama, Idaho and North Dakota, which lack the mandates, families are forced to rely on Medicaid, a government-funded healthcare program that is facing budget cuts, or school services, which often don’t provide behavioral therapy.
These states tend to have a lower prevalence of children diagnosed with autism, about 4.2 per 100 children, compared with states that have passed mandates. Because the prevalence of autism should be about the same nationwide, the researchers suggest that these states are under-diagnosing children because of poor infrastructure.
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