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PHOENIX — Four parents of autistic children, with other parents and their children in the audience, urged lawmakers Thursday to require health insurance to cover autism treatments that they said can lead to dramatic improvements.

"Insurance companies are forcing middle-class families to go on welfare," said Melissa Van Hook of Gilbert, whose 11-year-old son has autism.

The Senate Committee on Health unanimously endorsed a bill that would require that coverage, drawing a standing ovation.

SB 1263, sponsored by Sen. Amanda Aguirre, D-Yuma, would mandate that insurers cover the diagnosis and treatment of children with autism or related disorders such as Asperger's syndrome.

Van Hook said she has spent her retirement savings on treatment for her son, whose autism therapies were not covered by her nor her husband's insurance plans. Her husband is a police officer.

"My husband is out protecting our community, risking his life on a daily basis, yet the insurance company through his employer does not cover autism," Van Hook said.

Because of those treatments, Van Hook said, her son now plays in his school band and functions like any other child his age.

Jim Adams, president of the Phoenix chapter of the Autism Society of America, an autism researcher at Arizona State University and father of an autistic daughter, said proper treatment can help many children lead normal lives.

"It's time for insurance companies to update their polices," Adams said.

Sharolyn Brandhagen held up a picture of her 9-year-old son, who she said is autistic and can't speak.

She wept as she said that her insurance plan won't cover treatment and that she can't afford to pay for it herself.

"I know he has a light in him, and he tries so hard to speak," Brandhagen said.

"Just remember him," she said. "He needs the system to work for him. It's failed him."

Marc Osborn, a lobbyist for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told the committee that government mandates raise insurance costs for businesses.

"We're really shifting some of the state's costs onto the private employer," Osborn said.

Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley, took issue with that.

"We wouldn't be mandating if people could negotiate with their insurance companies on an individual basis," Leff said to applause from the audience.