our son Lucas is getting ready to come home after 9 weeks in the NICU, and he'll be arriving with a tracheostomy and a g-tube. He's got really low muscle tone which is why he's still unable to breath on his own and feed orally. my partner and I are clearly going to need some support even though we're getting close to mastering his trach care and will both be able to be around our apartment most of the time, at least initially.
We're not sure the extent of the home nursing we're going to need, and the big glitch that's come up is that our insurance doesn't cover the hours and regularity of care that we'll likely need over the first few months. We're looking into options related to Medicaid but it could be awhile before Lucas gets approved for something like that and we really want to get him home from the hospital asap, especially with flu season heating up. I know each state is different (and we don't even live in a state but rather Washington DC, which has pretty lousy services all around) but we'd really appreciate suggestions... on the insurance front, but also if you have experience and tips around home nursing and bringing a kid home on a vent.
thanks, burke
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going home with a trach, question about insurance/nursing
- By stansbum
- Posted October 22, 2009 at 8:18 am · 5 replies
- In Going home/family
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- By violetsmom
- Posted October 22, 2009 at 10:50 am
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When Violet was in the NICU, she automatically qualified for Medicaid because she was a preemie under a certain weight. She had Medicaid as a secondary insurance that paid for anything my primary insurance didn't cover. They would likely cover any kind of home nursing care your baby needs. I would suggest talking to the social worker about applying for Medicaid...it should not take long for you to be accepted...unless the system is very different in your state. When the baby is considered disabled, they automatically qualify. Good luck
- By Lyndseylou
- Posted October 22, 2009 at 1:03 pm
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Violets mom is right on target. That is exactly what we did. We have 18 hrs a day of nursing care M - F so we can work and sleep and 8 hours a night on the weekends so we can sleep. More than likely your main insurance carrier will cover some coverage in the beginning, ours did 3 weeks and the nursing company we used stayed on while we applied for Medicaid – it took about a month to get all the paperwork filed submitted and approved. Medicad will approve and pay for all outstanding bills for 3 months prior to the beginning of the coverage.
- By Feistylioness78
- Posted October 22, 2009 at 7:45 pm
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Is you son on SSI if he has SSI he should also have medicaid/medi-cal as back-up. The real problem will be finding the nursing care. our son needs 16 hrs a day back vent certified nurses are hard to come by and since his brother is also special needs they will not send Bren home with only us as the care providers.
Lyndseylou
What state are you in? We are having a hard time getting finding in home nursing. We have five agencies that deal with the insurance Bren has and one of them is horrible and the others have nurses but they are on other cases. They will be 2 in Nov.
- By babycooper
- Posted October 22, 2009 at 8:49 pm
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I do not know much, just wanted to stress how important it is to not let them switch to the mic-key too early. I know the tube is not pretty, but my daughter just had emergency surgery because it was too soon(not a request of mine) and it went horrible wrong.
Good luck and I hope he gets to come home soon! :))
- By Lyndseylou
- Posted October 23, 2009 at 9:14 am
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We are in PA. Our case manager at the hospital actually set up the nursing care for us. Luckily they picked a great agency that is wonderful.
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