Hello everyone!
My 10 year old son was diagnosed May 2017, we have recently changed insurance and are now facing a financial hardship when it comes to co payments on top of the monthly cost of private insurance. Is anyone aware of any resources that may help those who have private insurance? Any tips are greatly appreciated, we are adjusting to all the changes and throwing the financial piece in just adds stress to an already unfortunate situation.
Thank you!
Luisa
It probably depends on the state you live in. Michigan has a Childrens Special Health Care Service through the Department of Health and Human Services. I have not had to utilize it yet because my daughter has medicaid but that is changing so I may have to use it. It was explained to me that it is for children with life long illnesses and it works like Medicaid but that it only covers her diabetes related medical costs. Depending on your financial situation there could be a cost for the insurance. I am not sure where you are but I would contact your human services department and ask.
I’m glad to see you reaching out for help, it’s challenging enough trying to manage the diabetes, so I hope things are going well there. I recommend the same as @aakrzeminski regarding supplemental insurance through the state. Oregon also has a special program for kids to help cover costs, since a lot of childhood diseases tend to last a lifetime.
My son was diagnosed at the end of April and is 11, so I’m right with you in this journey, although our experiences will obviously differ. Feel free to message me and be sure to keep reaching out and finding your support network, especially with the costs. Best wishes for you and your family.
Thank you for responding. All this information can be overwhelming but I did get some answers. We live in SoCal and have Kaiser, at this time our co pays for any visits will be $20 and a 3 months supply of meds will run about $250, not to mention what we already pay for private insurance monthly. Needless to say every penny is worth it as it keeps our son alive, sigh… can’t complain about that…
I wanted to make sure that you knew about this resource: Help with Your Diabetes Prescription and Insulin Costs - JDRF
We’ve just released this guide to help people with T1D navigate the complicated world of health insurance. This particular page has a listing of resources that help you with your costs for drugs. Additionally, coupons are available for copays for most of the major types of insulin if you go to the websites for the brands that you use. Please let us know if you find the resource helpful or if you think it could be improved.