- Secret Playbook: Leaked documents show that UnitedHealth is aggressively targeting the treatment of thousands of children with autism across the country in an effort to cut costs.
- Critical Therapy: Applied behavior analysis has been shown to help kids with autism; many are covered by Medicaid, federal insurance for poor and vulnerable patients.
- Legal Questions: Advocates told ProPublica the insurer’s strategy may be violating federal law.
These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
There was a time when Sharelle Menard thought her son would never be able to speak. She couldn’t soothe Benji when he cried, couldn’t read him books he could follow, couldn’t take him out in public. “The screaming, and screaming, and screaming,” she said. “He would get so frustrated because he couldn’t communicate.”
