Florida Medicaid now pays for HBOT

[Guest guest]

Florida Medicaid now reimburses Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for brain-injured

children.

To quote the first sentence in the second paragraph: " Florida Medicaid

reimburses for hyperbaric oxygen treatments with no limitations to eligible

recipients under the age of 21. "

In addition, Florida Medicaid will also arrange transportation.

Florida parents, it's time to start asking. The letter has been converted

to a pdf file and can be downloaded from:

medicaid/files/HBOT_Florida_pays.PDF

A brain-injured child in any state pretty much automatically qualifies for

Medicaid. Helping hurt kids was the original purpose of Medicaid.

When Medicaid for children was created in 1967, President Lyndon

stated " The problem is to discover, as early as possible, the ills that

handicap our children. There must be continuing follow-up and treatment so

that handicaps do not go untreated. " (13 Congressional Record 2883.

February 8, 1967).

While Pediatric Neurology and the rest of Medicine ignores this root cause

of brain-injury (insufficient cerebral blood flow), we as parents have a

legal right to this treatment for our children.

In the interest of brain-injured children, a new listserv has been formed

to help parents access Medicaid reimbursement of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

(HBOT).

mailto:medicaid-subscribe

Hyperbaric oxygen has been proven to improve recovery in brain-injury.

There are reports that over 90% of all brain-injured children who receive

HBOT receive improvement. However, it is currently not accepted by pediatric

neurology as a standard treatment of care for our children. Because of this

nonacceptance parents are forced to pay for hyperbaric oxygen out of

pocket. Many parents have already taken out 2nd and 3rd mortgages to pay

for this incredibly safe, noninvasive, life-changing, permanent therapy.

The goal of the medicaid listserv is to change this status. Once

Medicaid reimburses HBOT, the insurance companies will follow suit.

A large obstacle is that each state is free to administer Medicaid

according to however they want; however, each state must comply with the

federal Medicaid law for children--which specifically stipulates that a

treatment like HBOT must be paid for by state Medicaid plans--whether it is

" covered by the state plan or not " .

Through this forum we as parents, caregivers, and advocates will be able to

exchange information, tips, and advice on how to access this for our

children.

Together we can make a difference.

Separately we may never make a difference.

I encourage you to participate in this discussion and worthy pursuit.

In addition to invaluable conversation and encouragement, list members will

be able to download over a dozen pdf files that can be used to put together

a request for Medicaid reimbursement through their own state agencies.

There is documentation from several states that will already reimburse HBOT

for brain-injury.

These files are available for download from

medicaid/files/ .

mailto:medicaid-subscribe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form

of tyranny over the mind of man. " -- Jefferson, probably an early

advocate of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

----------------------------

Freels

2948 Windfield Circle

Tucker, GA 30084-6714

USA

770/491-6776 (phone and fax)

509/275-1618 (efax, sends fax as email attachment)

mailto:dfreels@...

mailto:medicaid-subscribe

mailto:HBOTnow-subscribe