This final article on surviving the transition from having your health care needs met by the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program to having to pay out of pocket or with extremely limited coverage gets to the point. We talked in the last two articles about ways you could pay your medical bills through alternative routes; now it’s time to talk about what happens when you have to choose between paying (as an example) your electricity bill… or your insulin
Catch-22s
When you’re a young adult with a disability and federal and state programs have collapsed around you, it can seem like you’re in a nightmare. If you’ve only managed to scrape together a few hundred dollars, which do you pay first, the rent or the copay for the necessary weekly doctor’s visit? In most places, the answer is that you pay your medical bills and seek out a charity or some other assistance to pay your living costs. That’s because there are so many different costs of living, and there are government programs and charities for each, but there are few willing to tackle the long-term medical bills of a chronically disabled person.
where to start
Two good places to start are Disability.gov’s list of quick links for low-income individuals and families and the federal government’s Benefit Finder. Between the two, you will find links to register:
• The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps)
• Medicare Part D (prescription drug benefits)
• The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP – heating bills in the country)
• Opportunities for rental assistance through your local Community Action Council
• And various other services.
Basic budgeting and money management skills
If your particular set of special needs doesn’t prevent you from budgeting and managing your own money, you’ll find that there are many resources to help you learn how to do it independently. There is an excellent PDF available that acts as a basic budgeting and money management workbook for people with disabilities; find it here. There are also numerous tools available on mymoney.gov.
Getting a car as a low-income disabled adult
As long as your budgeting abilities (above) allow, it’s possible (though challenging) for a disabled adult with a strong history to purchase a car for free on the FreeCharityCars.org website. They give away about a car every month and have dozens of people signing up every day, so it’s not an easy thing to do, but if you have the time and energy to tell your story, it could be very, very worth it. grief.
If not, once again, Disability.gov offers a great list of places that offer assistance in obtaining affordable cars.
Buying a home as a low-income disabled adult
…it may sound like an impossible dream, but there are a surprising number of programs that can help you achieve this lofty goal. The list of disabled mortgage lenders on Disabled-World.com can give you a lot of information to get you started, including a list of lenders at the national and state levels.
Life after EPSDT and without Medicaid coverage can be extremely challenging, but resources are available and changes are being made, albeit in small increments, every day.