Caring for a child or an adult with disabilities or special needs is more than a full time job. It involves much more than directly caring for the comfort and life maintenance essentials of the disabled. It also means facing often insurmountable obstacles when you don’t have the adequate resources to help. Assistance is available through a variety of agencies, insurance programs, state and community services but navigating that landscape to get the needed help is difficult and very time-consuming. It requires considerable effort and patience to get the help, organize it, and then makes sure it is delivered as it’s needed. A disability consultant is a good place to start on your search for help.
When a parent or caretaker is faced with such a Herculean task for the first time, it is often overwhelming. This makes the assistance of a disability consultant a very valuable resource. A consultant who intimately knows the complex healthcare system in the U.S. today and who has successfully dealt with these challenges can help to guide you to the resources and assistance that you need quickly. Trying to do all of it alone is like re-inventing the wheel as the journey is already commenced. There simply isn’t that luxury of time.
State and federal assistance is available to the disabled and those with special needs. Agencies include Medicaid, SSI, Catastrophic Illness, DDD, DDS, and Special Child Health Services. Each of them offers assistance to meet different needs in different situations. A disability consultant can help you learn the services that the various agencies provide and work as a special needs advocate to obtain those services successfully and promptly. The consultant will help you with the needed documentation and get it submitted to the proper departments within the agencies to avoid hassles and delays.
Working with insurance companies to receive the benefits that you are entitled to is always a challenge even under the best of circumstances. Insurance advocacy services can handle those challenges for you by reviewing your insurance plans to fully understand the benefits, organizing and filing claims and following up with appeals as necessary. Insurance advocacy means having someone on your team who will fight for your reimbursement of claims as well as gain the additional benefits you need.
Your special needs advocate will work with your family to assess your needs for durable medical equipment, catalogue inventory, and coordinate orders and refills. Your advocate will also give you the names of contacts and organizations that can help you with financing healthcare needs and equipment. Caring for a loved one with disabilities or special needs is a tough job. Don’t try to go it alone.