FWIW, we MOVED to Canada from the US b/c our son is autistic and we wanted to get the support Canada (specifically BC) offered.
My wife is a GP and worked at the single best hospital system in the US and we couldn't get anywhere near the support we could up here in BC. That number you quoted ($80k/year) is almost exactly the number it would have cost us to get just therapy in the US, let alone an in class-room aid and in-home tutor.
That said, getting the official diagnosis did take some time but we were able to around that by paying out of pocket (around $1500 CAD) to get the official tests and what not. Also, once you have the diagnosis, there was no waiting for therapy. We could get it right away. Our son now has an aid 50% of the time he is in school. We have in-home therapy a few days a week (we pay for most of this; only some of it is covered), and we have access to parent training and special child social training courses.
There is a very good reason we live here and it is b/c BC has a great support system for autistic children. Like any bureaucracy the Canadian medical system can be very hard to navigate and I've heard stories of people giving up b/c they can't figure out the next steps, which is terrible. But the bottom line is BC was far and away better than anything we could have gotten in the US.
My wife is a GP and worked at the single best hospital system in the US and we couldn't get anywhere near the support we could up here in BC. That number you quoted ($80k/year) is almost exactly the number it would have cost us to get just therapy in the US, let alone an in class-room aid and in-home tutor.
That said, getting the official diagnosis did take some time but we were able to around that by paying out of pocket (around $1500 CAD) to get the official tests and what not. Also, once you have the diagnosis, there was no waiting for therapy. We could get it right away. Our son now has an aid 50% of the time he is in school. We have in-home therapy a few days a week (we pay for most of this; only some of it is covered), and we have access to parent training and special child social training courses.
There is a very good reason we live here and it is b/c BC has a great support system for autistic children. Like any bureaucracy the Canadian medical system can be very hard to navigate and I've heard stories of people giving up b/c they can't figure out the next steps, which is terrible. But the bottom line is BC was far and away better than anything we could have gotten in the US.