Ensuring Access to Health Care for the Autistic Child: More is Needed than Federal Health Care Reform
![handle is hein.journals/swulr41 and id is 441 raw text is: ENSURING ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
FOR THE AUTISTIC CHILD: MORE IS
NEEDED THAN FEDERAL HEALTH CARE
REFORM
Laura C. Hoffman*
[G]iven the increasing prevalence of autism and the complexity of
legal and policy issues surrounding the disorder, we believe more law
schools, as well as public policy and health schools, should and will begin
to explore the topic.'
INTRODUCTION
In his presidential proclamation recognizing World Autism Awareness
Day on April 2, 2011, President Barack Obama wrote: With autism
spectrum disorders (ASDs) affecting nearly one percent of children in the
United States, autism is an urgent public health issue with a profound
impact on millions of Americans.2 Autism is the fastest growing
* Laura C. Hoffman, Esq. is a candidate for a S.J.D. from Loyola University Chicago
School of Law's Beazley Institute of Health Law and Policy. She earned a LL.M. in Child and
Family Law from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2010. She holds a second LL.M.
in Government and Law with a concentration in Civil and Constitutional Rights from American
University Washington College of Law, '09. Laura earned her J.D. from Ave Maria School of
Law in 2007. She holds a B.A. in Political Science, cum laude, from the University of Notre
Dame, '04. She would like to thank her professional mentors, Professor Diane Geraghty,
Professor John Blum, and Professor Michael Zimmer, for their continued support and
encouragement of her legal scholarship and pursuit of a teaching career. Finally, she leaves a
special thank you to her parents, Ronald and Janet Hoffman, and Robert L. Choromanski, Esq. for
their gifts of unconditional love. She may be reached at lhoffman@luc.edu.
1. LORRI SHEALY UNUMB & DANIEL R. UNUMB, AUTISM AND THE LAW: CASES,
STATUTES, AND MATERIALS, at xvii (2011).
2. Proclamation No. 8647, 76 Fed. Reg. 19,265 (Apr. 1, 2011), available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/01/presidential-proclamation-world-autism-
awareness-day.
435](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/swulr41&div=24&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Ensuring Access to Health Care for the Autistic Child: More is Needed than Federal Health Care Reform
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most