Pennsylvania is now the second state to require insurance plans to cover speech therapy for children who stutter, after Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) signed a bill championed by a former NBA player and a state lawmaker who bonded over their experience living with the impediment.
In a statement posted to social media, Shapiro thanked the bill sponsor, Rep. Brandon Markosek (D), and said “to the parents and loved ones of kids who need these services, I have your back.”
The new law revises the state’s insurance statute to require health insurance companies that offer, issue or renew policies in the commonwealth to cover habilitative and rehabilitative speech therapy for childhood stuttering when determined to be medically necessary. The previous law stated that companies had to offer such treatment, but it was not mandated.
The law exempts school-based therapy or treatment provided through an individualized education program. Those services are typically paid for by school districts with budgets that come from a combination of federal, state and local funding.
According to the National Institutes of Health, 5%-10% of all children will stutter for some period in their life, lasting from a few weeks to several years. Stutters occur most often in children between the ages of 2 and 6 as they are developing their language skills.
Read more: Lawmakers seek to help kids who stutter, with NBA player’s assist
Early treatment can prevent stuttering from becoming a lifelong problem. But not every plan will cover it. Some even specifically exclude stuttering treatment, according to the National Stuttering Association.
Markosek told Pluribus News in September he drafted the bill after meeting Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a former No. 2 overall NBA draft pick and star at the University of Kentucky, at the National Conference of State Legislatures annual summit in Louisville, Ky., in August.
Kidd-Gilchrist was there to promote a model bill that was recently passed in Kentucky, thanks in part to the star power he brought to the issue. Delaware legislators passed a similar bill in June, while one in West Virginia did not make it out of committee.
Kidd-Glichrist has stuttered since he was a child but didn’t have access to speech therapy until his freshman year at Kentucky. After retiring from the NBA in 2020, he started the Change & Impact foundation to improve the lives of people who stutter. He told Pluribus News he has been in contact with legislators in more than half a dozen states about potential legislation.
Markosek didn’t speak until he was 3, when he started seeing a speech therapist at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital through coverage from his parents’ private insurance. He developed a “horrible stutter” that made him reluctant to raise his hand in class until he was in college, he said.
Markosek said he has tried to use his platform to give a voice to people who stutter during his six years in office, and was happy for the opportunity to make a more tangible difference in children’s lives.