Finding appropriate healthcare for your family, especially your child with special needs, can be quite stressful!
There are many factors to consider when choosing the right insurance company. What are the copays involved with each service you anticipate using? What therapies are covered? What hospitals can you use? Are current medications covered? What DME is covered? Do you have access to all of the specialists your child needs?
There are also many requirements you need to fill in order to apply for certain healthcare programs. As a family, you may have options to purchase insurance through the Federal marketplace, through your employer, or apply for insurance through Medicaid or NJ Family Care. Only you can determine which option is best for your family, and which programs you may or may not qualify for.
"Medicaid provides health insurance to parents/caretakers and dependent children, pregnant women, and people who are aged, blind or disabled. These programs pay for hospital services, doctor visits, prescriptions, nursing home care and other healthcare needs, depending on what program a person is eligible for."
"NJ FamilyCare - New Jersey's publicly funded health insurance program - includes CHIP, Medicaid and Medicaid expansion populations. That means qualified NJ residents of any age may be eligible for free or low cost health insurance that covers doctor visits, prescriptions, vision, dental care, mental health and substance use services and even hospitalization."
"Through Title V support, each of New Jersey’s 21 counties maintains a Special Child Health Services (SCHS) Case Management Unit (CMU) partially funded by its Board of Chosen Freeholders to promote access to preventive and primary care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) from birth through 21 years of age. The goal of SCHS CMUs is to provide comprehensive, coordinated, culturally competent case management services to families with CYSHCN."
"A medical home is not a specific place, but is a way of providing primary health care that partners a child with special health care needs, the child’s family, the primary care provider, and specialty providers.In a medical home, primary care providers offer preventive, acute, and chronic care for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN), and make sure that the family receives all the help they need coordinating care with the child’s other specialists and service providers. This helps to reduce fragmented care that can include gaps and/or duplications in services."