Legal Opinion Finds CA Regional Centers Can Pay Copays

The Association of Regional Center Agencies (ARCA) requested a legal opinion from the law firm, Enright and Ocheltree, LLP, in order to determine whether regional centers can pay the co-pays for services otherwise covered by insurance. The legal option authored on June 11, 2012, finds that requiring copayments from families who have insurance violates the Lanterman Act, which governs the regional centers. In addition, this legal opinion found that hardship and financial need of the family are not relevant, since there is no copay requirement in the law pertaining to insurance. This means that families who are able to secure insurance funding for applied behavior analysis (ABA) services for their child with autism can contact their regional center to request reimbursement for copayments. Families can provide their regional center service coordinator with the following legal opinion to support their request: ARCADecision