House Committee Opens Billing Probe Into ABA Provider The Perfect Child

A Federal Demand for Records

WASHINGTON – The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has started an investigation into The Perfect Child, an autism therapy provider based in Brooklyn. The committee set July 20 as the deadline to submit billing and reimbursement records from 2020 onward.

Committee Chairman Tim Walberg from Michigan and Rick Allen from Georgia, who leads the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, sent the request to founder Simcha Bendet on July 6. The letter asks for documents about gross revenue from employer-sponsored health plans, both in-network and out-of-network claims, and the 25 highest-paid claims since January 1, 2020.

Congress is seeking records under its oversight power. The committee said it is investigating “health care costs borne by employer-sponsored health plans governed by” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Bendet has not been accused of a crime, and the letter describes the alleged conduct throughout.

What the Journal Reported

The committee’s request followed a June 2026 Wall Street Journal investigation called “The Perfect Child.” The Journal found the company billed health plans up to $13,000 an hour, which is about 150 times higher than the $89 hourly average insurers pay in-network providers.

The Journal’s reporting centered on families like Carolina Lopez, a mother from New Jersey. She received a bill for $911,400 for her three-year-old son’s home therapy, even though she was told there would be no out-of-pocket cost. A single 70-minute session with a technician was billed to her insurer, Highmark, at $30,500.

The Journal found more than 100 limited liability companies linked to The Perfect Child, its founder, or its Brooklyn address. It also reported that the company and its affiliates have sued at least 19 families and employers to collect payments since late 2024. The company says it offers home-based therapy in 30 states. Bendet started the company in 2018.

The Employer-Plan Angle

The letter bases its authority on ERISA rather than the Medicaid rules that typically govern ABA billing oversight. The investigation focuses on employer-sponsored plans, which cover about 154 million Americans and are under the committee’s jurisdiction.

The committee linked its request to possible new legislation. It said the goal is “not to restrict access to medically necessary care” but to see if new laws are needed to protect employer plans from “waste, fraud, abuse, and excessive health care costs.” The letter asks for internal policies on setting charges, out-of-network reimbursement, balance billing, and collections, as well as any records of claims that insurers or plans referred for fraud, waste, or abuse review.

What Comes Next

The Perfect Child did not reply to The Daily Signal, which first reported on the letter. Bendet also did not answer the Journal’s calls and emails for its June investigation. In a June opinion column, BreakingNewsABA argued that one Brooklyn provider billing $13,000 an hour does not represent the entire field, where more than 81,000 certified behavior analysts work. The column warned that judging the entire industry by a single bad example could discourage families from seeking legitimate care.

AT A GLANCE

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