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
