The alarming increase in the number of individuals diagnosed with autism has given rise to two parallel public health crises.
In most cases, this crisis is presented as the urgent need to identify the causes of this increase. An equally compelling component of this crisis is our society's inability to provide appropriate treatments and supports to the growing number of people diagnosed with autism and their families. In response to this challenge, the United States as a whole and many states individually have enacted legislation and other policy mechanisms, often in the absence of any evidence supporting them, to increase access to autism-related care. This presentation will review these mechanisms and the results of studies that attempt to measure the effects of these policies. (#28239)