Tuesday, September 28, 2010

how can I get my child treated with my H1B's job-based health plan

how can I get my child treated with my H1B's job-based health plan?
I have a chance to come to work in U.S. under H1B visa and my employer offers the job-based health plans for my family. But I have a problem that I can't make up my mind yet. One of my children has got a serious disease called HLH and has being treated in my home country, Vietnam. I believe that it would give my child a much better chance to recover if she is treated in U.S. However, according to my research, with the pre-existing condition, there will be an exclusion period up to 12 or 18 months before my child can be covered by the health insurance. Without the health insurance, it would be very expensive, but I don't know if I can afford it or not. If you have any ideas about the treatment expenses in US or how to deal with insurance issues similar to my case, please share it with me. Thank you very much! Lam. Can my child join the health plan while still staying in Vietnam? If yes, she can go to the US later when the exclusion period is over. Is it ok? Is there any medical assessments required for checking the pre-existing condition?
Immigration - 3 Answers

Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
If you are even allowed to bring in your child with such a serious and debilitating disease, you will have to pay for all treatment out of your own pocket. Plan on it costing at least 10 times more than it does in Vietnam. On an H1-b salary, you probably cannot afford the medical care. Consider that your child may be better off continuing treatment with existing medical professionals already familiar with the child. Also, the stresses of moving to a foreign country and culture often exacerbate medical conditions - moving itself can prove deadly! It is quite likely better for your child's health and welfare to stay at home and continue treatment in familiar surroundings with familiar doctors. Any US trained physician in Vietnam will stay up-to-date on the latest research available & you are bound to find them in Vietnam without having to subject the child to long-distance travel, visa requirements, and more hassles and expenses.
2 :
You need to check with the company's HR department, but in most cases new hire employees and their families are not subject to exclusions for preexisting conditions. This is provided they sign-up with the plan upon being hired. Usually, it's only if you wait until a following open enrollment period (once a year) that proof of insurability is required.
3 :
I would see if you can continue the insurance you have in Vietnam here in the US especially for your sick child. If you can, I wouldn't cancel it at all. When you go back home they may not re-instate/re-insure him.

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Friday, September 24, 2010

No Answer from "Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service"

No Answer from "Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service"?
Two months ago i saw a nurse from a "Mental Health Service" facility, where i was told to go by a doctor for self injury. The nurse asked me questions, such as how often do i self harm (only if i was really upset), do i eat right (sometimes), if i had ever tried to commit suicide (thought about it), ect. He told me he was going to contact a college of his -a psychiatrist- and that he would contact me back. However, since that day something bad happened and i've resorted to self injuring every day even discovering new ways to do, i tried to kill myself twice and am now convinced that i'm fat after certain comments and have reduced eating... The counsellor i've been seeing -who is on holiday at the moment- hasn't really done anything to help me and there's been no word from the Health Service. What should i do? Should i contact them and tell them what i've been doing or just wait longer for a reply? Please help, i'm scared i'm starting to get out of control! (I've just turned 16.)
Mental Health - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Contact THEM, contact the nurse, contact your minister or someone like that. Contact your teachers, counselors -- anybody and EVERYbody until someone gets you some HELP NOW!
2 :
Where are your parents? Can you talk to them about it? If not, then call a suicide hotline. They'll be able to connect you with services in your area that are appropriate for you at this point in time. That nurse that you spoke with sounds like an air-head. Someone should've been contacted for you right away. Good luck.
3 :
When u need help or even just someone to talk to u should reach out and give them a call. Give someone a call. There is always someone out there who can get u in touch with a person qualified to talk to u in an emergency. It don't matter if it is the middle of the night, a weekend, or a holiday. Someone is always available somewhere. Go to the ER if that is what it takes. Don't harm yourself. There are people who need you and love u.
4 :
Most definitely you should contact the facility that you went to recently and as soon as possible. However because its the weekend there may not be anyone available to speak to immediately and it sounds as though you need some support and reassurance right now (that you're not going crazy) perhaps you have a close friend or relative that you trust enough to confide in? The way you're feeling right now you need someone to talk to and someone who will listen to you. There are telephone helplines if this isn't an option for you, also most major hospitals have doctors and nurses who are specialized in mental healt available who will see you 24/7 if the situation becomes too difficult for you. Remember you don't have to struggle on your own. Wishing you peace.

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Adding adopted child to family health insurance

Adding adopted child to family health insurance?
We are very close to finalizing adoption for a special needs child. He is currently on medicaid and will continue to receive that coverage. It is expected we will use that as a back-up to our own family policy. It has been suggested to us by someone in the adoption field that we may be better off NOT adding him to our policy because of the amount of care he may need going forward and the battles which may come between our insurer and medicaid. I am asking ONLY from the standpoint of avoiding hassles & potential confusion-I'd rather be spending my time with him in the coming years than on hold repeatedly fighting yet another broken system! We love this child and want what's best for him. We will get his needs met. Can we keep him off our family policy? Do you see any potential pitfalls with that scenario? Medicaid has been good at meeting his needs (weekly therapies and meds running over 500/month) and we have no plans to change his providers. Anyone dealt w/this before?
Adoption - 6 Answers

Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
I think you need to speak with his caseworker about this and see their view. The only problem I can see is medicaid finding out you chose not to add him to your policy to use medicaid. Then down the road they could end up dropping him from medicaid and you will be unable to add him to your private insurance until open enrollment. You only have the 30-60 day window right after adoption to add him to your insurance.
2 :
you should just keep medicaid but i wanted to congrats on the new adoption espesially a special needs i i work for a special ed class and i would love to adopt a little boy or girl with down syndrome
3 :
Yes, we encountered the same situation. We had always planed on putting the kids on my husbands insurance once they were adopted. After finding out that they would still qualify for Medicaid and weighing the pros and cons we decided to have them use only Medicaid. Once you put him on your insurance it becomes the primary and Medicaid is the secondary. You will be paying co-pays and your usual prescription prices. You do not have to put him on your insurance. Medicaid will be his primary/only insurance. From the standpoint of avoiding hassles and potential confusion I would just keep him off of your insurance. Sometimes it is harder to find a provider and a bit embarrassing to use Medicaid, but the benefits out way that.
4 :
We did not have to add our adopted son to our insurance, so we chose not to for alot of the same reason you heard. .He currently has MIchild (medicaid). The only problem that we had is some Doctors only accept so many Medicaid recipients a month. I made an appointment with an allergist for my bio son and adopted son at the same time. They could get my bio child in almost immediately and the adopted child had to wait almost 3 months for an appointment. So you might also want to take that into consideration.
5 :
I was a licensed insurance agent for about 20 years and I am the adoptive mother of two special needs children. You may choose to add your child to your private or group health insurance and if you do so your policy will be the "Primary" insurance and it will be billed first. You will not lose the medicaid or state health insurance by adding the child to your policy. What will happen is any medical facility, doctor or other health need that IS covered by the medicaid or state insurance will be paid as medicaid will come in and cover any co payments. For example medications at the pharmacy our primary (employer provided group health insurance) Pays for the medication as it would in any ordinary situation. Our Health insurance requires us to pay either $10.00 (generics) or $25.00 co-payment for prescriptions. Medicaid covers the $10 or $25 and we do not pay for medications. But: Our daughters Psychiatrist does NOT accept Medicaid or state health insurance so--any co-payments his service requires we need to pay out of pocket... You can keep your child off your health insurance but, I would suggest NOT doing this. The truth is the depending on your child's special need--Medicaid is not always going to offer families the Best Care---having your private insurance as an option for children with special needs is an advantage for getting the services your child may need. Depending on only the publically funded system may cause you to have to use it the same as any other family on Medicaid--in some cases this would mean that you have to work with a County or State provided case worker and be part of the CPS system in order to access things like Mental Health.... With private insurance you will continue to have control over what happens and what care you get.... With Both you have both options and can use a combination of services depending on your child's needs.
6 :
There is no right or wrong to your question. You should do as you please. However, I do have experience in this area. Both my children qualify for Medicaid because of their family background. However, we did add our daughter to my husband's policy because the addition was so inexpensive. It turned out to be very fortunate, because the therapist we worked so hard to choose doesn't accept Medicaid. Our son's therapist is excellent for his needs, and she does accept Medicaid. But when we looked for therapists, we looked, based on the needs of our children, not on whether or not they accepted Medicaid. You might want to keep that in mind. In my experience, all adopted children need to benefit from lots of therapy--not just a little, but pretty much all their childhood and adolescence. Especially if they came from abusive or neglectful situations. Those children have wounds that require healing, and they deserve every bit of help we can give them. Let me also say that the wounds are not always obvioius. My daughter did a really good job of pushing her pain down inside until she hit puberty, and then she let her anger and pain out in inappropriate behavior.

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