Why is ABA therapy so expensive?

ABA therapy is expensive because it is one-on-one care delivered for many hours a week. A trained technician works with one child at a time, and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, who has a graduate degree and a board certification, writes the plan, reviews the data and supervises the technician regularly.

The hours add up. At TRICARE’s 2026 Utah maximum of about $77 an hour for technician time, a 30-hour week is roughly $2,300 before BCBA time, and programs can run a year or longer. On top of direct sessions, providers pay for assessments, treatment planning, parent training, insurance paperwork and staff training. Most families do not pay that full price. In Utah, Medicaid and most individual and large-group health plans cover ABA for autism.