Re: Speaking of Good state services

[Guest guest]

From what I've heard, TN has some of the fewest services for gov

health insurance. I've heard some of the best stuff about Delaware,

Missouri (specifically St. Louis for ABA), and CA. There may be others

out there, and some in those states may disagree. I've also been told

from some who have lived in different regions that our school system

in Knoxville has average services compared with the rest of the

nation; other school districts may have far less, the more rural the

more likely.

A friend of mine has a child with autism here in TN and a friend with

a child with autism in FL. From them I've heard educational stuff in

FL & here are about the same. For government health care, it's

income-based only, I don't think there's any way to buy into it, but I

could be wrong. But, if you get a job offering health insurance, it's

my understanding that the insurance cannot up your individual rate

based on your health issues, but I may be wrong.

HTH,

Debi

[Guest guest]

From what I've heard, TN has some of the fewest services for gov

health insurance. I've heard some of the best stuff about Delaware,

Missouri (specifically St. Louis for ABA), and CA. There may be others

out there, and some in those states may disagree. I've also been told

from some who have lived in different regions that our school system

in Knoxville has average services compared with the rest of the

nation; other school districts may have far less, the more rural the

more likely.

A friend of mine has a child with autism here in TN and a friend with

a child with autism in FL. From them I've heard educational stuff in

FL & here are about the same. For government health care, it's

income-based only, I don't think there's any way to buy into it, but I

could be wrong. But, if you get a job offering health insurance, it's

my understanding that the insurance cannot up your individual rate

based on your health issues, but I may be wrong.

HTH,

Debi

[Guest guest]

When I lived in upstate NY Saratoga County, Kayla got great benefits. The

best I have ever seen, she got money for horse therapy, dance, respite,

reshab, medicaid. Downstate in Long Island, NY she wasn't able to get any

of these. NY goes by land mass not population. So if you are in NY and in

a county with a large amount of land and few people you are going to get so

much more.

TJ

> From what I've heard, TN has some of the fewest services for gov

> health insurance. I've heard some of the best stuff about Delaware,

> Missouri (specifically St. Louis for ABA), and CA. There may be others

> out there, and some in those states may disagree. I've also been told

> from some who have lived in different regions that our school system

> in Knoxville has average services compared with the rest of the

> nation; other school districts may have far less, the more rural the

> more likely.

>

> A friend of mine has a child with autism here in TN and a friend with

> a child with autism in FL. From them I've heard educational stuff in

> FL & here are about the same. For government health care, it's

> income-based only, I don't think there's any way to buy into it, but I

> could be wrong. But, if you get a job offering health insurance, it's

> my understanding that the insurance cannot up your individual rate

> based on your health issues, but I may be wrong.

>

> HTH,

> Debi

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

When I lived in upstate NY Saratoga County, Kayla got great benefits. The

best I have ever seen, she got money for horse therapy, dance, respite,

reshab, medicaid. Downstate in Long Island, NY she wasn't able to get any

of these. NY goes by land mass not population. So if you are in NY and in

a county with a large amount of land and few people you are going to get so

much more.

TJ

> From what I've heard, TN has some of the fewest services for gov

> health insurance. I've heard some of the best stuff about Delaware,

> Missouri (specifically St. Louis for ABA), and CA. There may be others

> out there, and some in those states may disagree. I've also been told

> from some who have lived in different regions that our school system

> in Knoxville has average services compared with the rest of the

> nation; other school districts may have far less, the more rural the

> more likely.

>

> A friend of mine has a child with autism here in TN and a friend with

> a child with autism in FL. From them I've heard educational stuff in

> FL & here are about the same. For government health care, it's

> income-based only, I don't think there's any way to buy into it, but I

> could be wrong. But, if you get a job offering health insurance, it's

> my understanding that the insurance cannot up your individual rate

> based on your health issues, but I may be wrong.

>

> HTH,

> Debi

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks Debi,

Yeah the school system here kinda varies from district to district. While

I've not really had the opportunity to experience other districts or other

states school systems... I've lived in FL since before I started

Kindergarten! LOL But from what I've gathered from some other online friends

who's children have ADHD (which both my girls have) we do have a pretty good

set up here and I've been quite happy with the schools my girls have gone to

so far. They may not be the best but they do their best and the teachers

have all been really dedicated and seem to be there cause they want to be

and not cause they have to be.

Our state kids health care program for low income families is pretty good

coverage and allows you to buy into it based on your income if you make more

than the cut off then you can pay a prorated amount or even the full cost,

but all the services are the same. They do require that you not be able to

insure the children through your employer or that the cost would be a

certain amount higher than their fees. But for us that wasn't a problem

cause hubby's employer doesn't have real insurance, they've got a health

savings plan type thing. Also so many employers are not offering insurance

anymore and ones that do offer it's usually not all that great. I've had a

lot of parents tell me that while they have insurance that is fine for

emergencies or illnesses etc. That when it comes to therapies they get

something like 16 lifetime sessions and we all know how quickly that can be

run through. My daughter is at least able to get 1/2 hour of speech and OT

privately every week for as long as she needs it. There is no limit to the

number of times she can go. She just has to have an evaluation every 6mo. to

see if she still 'needs' the therapy. So she's able to get that on top of

her school provided therapies. Which most of the other parents can't do

because their child used up all their lifetime amounts of therapy within

weeks of their dx.

Thanks for your input, I look forward to hearing what others have to say...

And hope to be able to use the information.

They should have a website that outlines the benefits and resources offered

to those with children with special needs. Heck they have sites that rate

states on all kinds of other factors....

Theresa

> From what I've heard, TN has some of the fewest services for gov

> health insurance. I've heard some of the best stuff about Delaware,

> Missouri (specifically St. Louis for ABA), and CA. There may be others

> out there, and some in those states may disagree. I've also been told

> from some who have lived in different regions that our school system

> in Knoxville has average services compared with the rest of the

> nation; other school districts may have far less, the more rural the

> more likely.

>

> A friend of mine has a child with autism here in TN and a friend with

> a child with autism in FL. From them I've heard educational stuff in

> FL & here are about the same. For government health care, it's

> income-based only, I don't think there's any way to buy into it, but I

> could be wrong. But, if you get a job offering health insurance, it's

> my understanding that the insurance cannot up your individual rate

> based on your health issues, but I may be wrong.

>

> HTH,

> Debi

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

In AZ, if you have an autism diagnosis, & it has to be autism, not aspergers

or pddnos, then you get state insurance, plus you get habilitation hours to

do your home program (pays for the providers, not the consultation to run

your program), plus 60 hrs of respite/mos. The schools are so so, depending

on where you live. I think the schools back east (NY, NJ) have the best

reps, but nothing is paid for at home, so I think that's a toss up whether

you want a good school or the option to have a home program. AZ just passed

the autism insurance bill effective July 2009, that autism treatments like

ABA, speech,, OT etc are medically necessary & the insurance companies can't

deny b/c of the autism diagnosis. The ABA cap is $50K for kids up to 7 or 8

& $25K until 16yrs old. For me, the plus side is the weather. Except for

the awful summer heat.... I feel much better here than in IL with all that

gloomy weather. Plus, the housing market is not as expensive as CA or the

east coast.

Marie

> If any of you could move your family to any state in the US in order to

> have

> the best state provided services for your family/children, what state would

> that be? Where would you know you definately DON'T want to be because they

> have little to no services/resources.

>

> I've found it to be a really challenging task to try to find out resources

> are available (and if we'd qualify or if you can buy in if you don't

> qualify) in each state. We are looking to relocate soon (getting our house

> ready to put on the market now) and what scares me the most about moving

> from FL is leaving behind our state health care for the kids (which we pay

> full price for - but is the ONLY insurance we can get due to health

> conditions and while it's far from perfect in some ways it's been better

> than most private insurances we've heard from other parents)

>

> Theresa

> 's mom

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Sacramento, CA. In fact, that's why we moved here, although it was for

me to be able to find a steady job at a reasonable income (I'm an ABA

consultant). I researched a lot of places and ultimately this is where

we found the best services to be available. I know families from all

over the country now who moved here to get services for their autistic

kids. I work with kids on all levels of the spectrum and although I

only work with the little ones, our company provides services for kids

up to age 15. Actually, we provide some services for kids through 22,

but mostly in the form of parent training from 15 up.

Amnesty

>

> If any of you could move your family to any state in the US in order

to have

> the best state provided services for your family/children, what

state would

> that be? Where would you know you definately DON'T want to be

because they

> have little to no services/resources.

>

> I've found it to be a really challenging task to try to find out

resources

> are available (and if we'd qualify or if you can buy in if you don't

> qualify) in each state. We are looking to relocate soon (getting our

house

> ready to put on the market now) and what scares me the most about moving

> from FL is leaving behind our state health care for the kids (which

we pay

> full price for - but is the ONLY insurance we can get due to health

> conditions and while it's far from perfect in some ways it's been better

> than most private insurances we've heard from other parents)

>

> Theresa

> 's mom

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Sacramento....I thought I might move there at one point, but that was before

I met my husband & ended up in IL instead. Sacramento is 2 hrs from my mom

& that would have been close enough to visit fairly frequently but now that

I'm in AZ, I do like it here. Plus my MIL moved here from FL, so I'd hate

to move & leave her since she moved to be close to us.

Marie

> Sacramento, CA. In fact, that's why we moved here, although it was for

> me to be able to find a steady job at a reasonable income (I'm an ABA

> consultant). I researched a lot of places and ultimately this is where

> we found the best services to be available. I know families from all

> over the country now who moved here to get services for their autistic

> kids. I work with kids on all levels of the spectrum and although I

> only work with the little ones, our company provides services for kids

> up to age 15. Actually, we provide some services for kids through 22,

> but mostly in the form of parent training from 15 up.

> Amnesty

>

>

>

> >

> > If any of you could move your family to any state in the US in order

> to have

> > the best state provided services for your family/children, what

> state would

> > that be? Where would you know you definately DON'T want to be

> because they

> > have little to no services/resources.

> >

> > I've found it to be a really challenging task to try to find out

> resources

> > are available (and if we'd qualify or if you can buy in if you don't

> > qualify) in each state. We are looking to relocate soon (getting our

> house

> > ready to put on the market now) and what scares me the most about moving

> > from FL is leaving behind our state health care for the kids (which

> we pay

> > full price for - but is the ONLY insurance we can get due to health

> > conditions and while it's far from perfect in some ways it's been better

> > than most private insurances we've heard from other parents)

> >

> > Theresa

> > 's mom

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

>

> If any of you could move your family to any state in the US in

order to have

> the best state provided services for your family/children, what

state would

> that be? Where would you know you definately DON'T want to be

because they

> have little to no services/resources.

>

> I've found it to be a really challenging task to try to find out

resources

> are available (and if we'd qualify or if you can buy in if you don't

> qualify) in each state. We are looking to relocate soon (getting

our house

> ready to put on the market now) and what scares me the most about

moving

> from FL is leaving behind our state health care for the kids (which

we pay

> full price for - but is the ONLY insurance we can get due to health

> conditions and while it's far from perfect in some ways it's been

better

> than most private insurances we've heard from other parents)

>

> Theresa

> 's mom

>

>

>