THE MEDICAL WAIVER

Whew, we are soooooo fortunate to have received the medical waiver!

I am still getting bills upon bills for the time that he did not have the coupon...and they are stacking up. I have been working with the insurance companies, DSHS and medical offices to figure something out. Fortunately there was only about a two month window without the coupon.

Beyond his medical appointments and procedures (the most pricey of the bills), he has mega equipment rental, medications, and therapy. Yesterday I received a whopper for the OT/PT that wasn't covered...that in itself set me back a pretty penny! Yikes!

I know Maxwell has more medical/developmental issues than many special needs kiddos and therefore his needs and expenses are much higher than average. (I don't like admitting that, but hey reality is reality.) But still, I don't know how special needs families can afford all of these costs on top of the time away from work or not being able to work at all.

And this medical waiver that Maxwell received is extremely, EXTREMELY uncommon. Actually another parent recently told me that our two sons are the only children who have received the waiver in this county for the last ten years! Yikes! That was difficult to hear (knowing how above and beyond medically fragile our children are) but it was also a reminder how incredibly fortunate we were to actually receive it. I am forever thankful for all the case workers and medical professionals who worked with me to make this happen. Wow.

As we move forward with the newly elected state and federal legislators, I kindly (and strongly) urge you to advocate on behalf of the special needs community. I never realized how much financial strain (in addition to the physical and emotional strain) was on families until Maxwell arrived. These families and their services need our support.

For example, here in Whatcom County they have a "payor of last resort" fund for families when they need financial assistance. Therapy appointments, sign language classes, special shoes (Dylan for example last week could have used this), etc. are just a few examples of items that can be covered through that fund. Unfortunately that fund has run dry and will not be replenished until next year.

These sources of assistance could be better funded if we advocate their importance to our elected officials.

And lastly, yes I know that many of you are probably going to post "what about the father? why isn't he paying?" Unfortunately that isn't going to happen without the courts forcing him to...so we are working on that. Yes indeed that is frustrating, I know! But I'm sure it will work out and I will be reimbursed eventually.

Ok now back to posting some super cute photos of Mighty, Mighty, Mighty Maxwell...