Welcome to the joys (and challenges) of raising kids! If you made it here, you’re probably wondering about some aspect of your child’s speech and language development and wondering how to prepare for your first speech therapy session. With some 1 in 10 kids seeing a speech therapist at some point you should know 1) this is probably a lot more common then you realize and 2) speech therapists are trained to help kids overcome speech challenges…and they will overcome them.
Recently, I discussed the generally unfavorable state of affairs around health insurance for speech therapy services. Despite this, all is not lost. Not by any means! Many of my own clients are able to take advantage of out-of-network speech therapy benefits for health care reimbursement, which can provide a significant savings for families. In this same vein, a previous post of mine covered Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Today’s post focuses on what parents need to know in order to access those precious out-of-network speech and language therapy benefits. As with anything insurance-related, initially it can be a bit complicated. The hope is that, armed with this information, you will be better able to get the benefits you actually pay for, and in as timely a manner as possible.
I am occasionally asked whether I directly accept health insurance. The short answer is that I do not. This is a somewhat fraught issue for me in my practice, I do have to admit. After all, my family and I have health insurance and I fundamentally believe in increasing access to all who are in need of any service. However, the harsh reality is that currently, insurance coverage for speech therapy typically would deny coverage for any service that treats a disability that is “developmental” in nature. Often, insurance coverage for speech therapy requires medical necessity, or has resulted from a specific injury or illness, something that is increasingly difficult to establish and quite infrequently the reason for a speech or language challenge. Most speech pathologists, myself included, work with children whose challenges are indeed developmental in nature. So, even if I were to directly participate with the leading health insurance providers, most of the children I see wouldn’t even be able to use their insurance for what it is specifically I am treating. This blog post is dedicated to sharing more experiences with health insurance for speech therapy and helping you, the parent, find the best speech and language therapy option for your child.
Photo 2012-226 My New Teacher Desk by Denise Krebs
Particularly since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, the public options available to parents to cover the costs of speech therapy have been gradually tightening. I have seen many children in my practice who previously would easily qualify for services, but now are turned away, making the question of “how to pay for speech therapy” even more challenging.
Here at Speech Buddies we frequently get questions about Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs): is speech therapy FSA eligible, does HSA cover speech therapy? Some families currently have these accounts available to them and others are considering adding them, where available, to potentially reduce the cost of their family’s health care. Since speech therapy would generally be considered a covered expense (i.e. you would be able to use HSA or FSA to pay for speech therapy), these accounts could be a great way to defray overall costs. And with the enrollment period for 2016 fast approaching, a few minutes of planning may unlock significant savings for your family. This post is dedicated to shedding light on these options – as usual, there is some complexity here – so families needing to access speech therapy services can do so with a greater sense of empowerment.
