A reader on the Adoption.com forums just posed an interesting question about paying for treatment. Read her thread here.
Foster children, and children adopted from foster care have Title 19 (Medicaid) for their insurance. If the child is adopted, or a pre-adoptive placement, you can place the child on your medical insurance.
The problem comes when you can’t find an adequate provider that takes Title 19, and your insurance doesn’t cover all of the expense. What do you do?
Do you go deep into debt? Do you max out your credit cards? Do you take out a second mortgage on your home?
We are struggling with this issue. We are doing the bio-medical treatment that Julie has blogged about. The provider does not take Title 19, and he is out of network, so our insurance covers little of the cost.
The cost of supplements is about $250 a month, and a doctor visit is about another $250. It is worth it to us. We have seen amazing improvements in Sammy’s behaviors. In addition, he is on a gluten free and casein free diet, he does not eat any red food, whether naturally or artificially colored, and we limit sugar as much as possible. This results in higher food bills from buying specialty foods.
We are struggling with the bills, as most families are.
What are the solutions? Unfortunately, they’re pretty limited, unless you get creative.
If the child is still a foster child, ask for the foster care rate to be reviewed. Document all expenses, treatments, and therapies needed, along with the shortage of doctors that accept medical assistance. Document the time you spend waiting for doctors, driving to/from appointments, phone calls, and any other expenses you have.
If the child is adopted, you can submit for a revision to adoption assistance. You need to contact your state adoption assistance office. Your worker should be able to tell you how to contact them. Again, have full documentation. It is not easy to get adoption assistance changed, so be prepared to offer full explanations for your request.
Check into social security disability. Children can receive disability for mental and physical disabilities. The process is long. There are many forms to be filled out and the average time to get an answer is 4-6 months.
Check into a Flexible Spending Account (FSA). You can enroll in this through your employer, or your spouse’s employer. The money is placed into an account at the beginning of the year, you submit a form to your employer when you have expenses, and you are “repaid” with the money from your account. There are limitations to it. You deposit between $250 and $5000 in the account. You must work within those dollar amounts. If you do not use all the money in the account by the end of the year, the money is turned over to the federal government, and you lose it.
You can try fundraisers. We had a friend that offered to make us a quilt to raffle off. We raised almost $400 from that. We solicited celebrities who had used the treatments we are using, or who had the disabilities that we are working with. We raised $2500 from that.
Be creative. Think “outside the box” and you can find some funding. I’m not guaranteeing you’re going to get everything you need, but it might help to make a dent in the bills.