Manna from heaven

Image via Wikipedia

Auti-mamas, we have been gifted.

Like many kids with autism spectrum disorders, Elmer's medical expenses have way outstripped his insurance coverage; so we're glad to have TEFRA, Minnesota's version of the Katie Beckett waiver. This makes Elmer eligible for Medical Assistance (MA). It's not free; we pay a monthly premium, but it has been critical to paying for his needs. It is considered his secondary insurance, and covers expenses not covered by his primary insurance. As long as it comes from an MA provider.
That's the rub. Because it is a Medicaid program, reimbursements are low and not every provider accepts it. We choose providers carefully, always making sure they accept both our primary and MA coverage.
This short story is getting long.
Anyway, we were delighted that our neighborhood orthodontics office accepted both policies, and Elmer has been going twice yearly for three years while waiting for the last grown up tooth to emerge. Last month it emerged! We scheduled the next appointment, resubmitted insurance cards, and were informed the practice no longer accepted MA. "They never pay," we were told. Folks, Elmer is doing well, thanks to all the supports he has received thanks to programs like MA; but he still has an ASD and is used to this practice and any change is hard and he doesn't want unfamiliar people in unfamiliar places sticking their hands in his mouth.
I spoke to the financial director. I wrote a letter to the orthodontists. And I just got a phone call from the practice letting me know that they were going to treat Elmer f r e e !
They'll collect the $1000 coverage his primary policy provides, but the rest of his orthdontics -- roughly $5000 -- will be gratis.
Gratis! Just like manna from heaven. So I guess that's who I should thank.
(Plus the orthodontists.)

Post script: Because I have been so blessed, I am making a contribution to Doctors Without Borders in honor of these orthodontists.

See no toxin, hear no toxin, speak no toxin

Image via Wikipedia

As usual, Peggy Orenstein gets it wrong. From her lofty platform in the New York Times Magazine, she writes that toxins are everywhere so parents shouldn't worry so much. They're in your child's lunchbox and baby bottle, milk and water, tuna and pajamas. Everywhere. So why panic, especially you overeducated types. You're still standing. Peggy is still standing, and she grew up with creosote-tainted water. Sure, she had breast cancer, but what can you do? Worry about the things you can see: fire, car crashes, things that are already regulated and don't have carte blanche to poison you or your kids.

Peggy can't accept the simple fact that what you can't see can hurt you and wreck your children, who are especially susceptible to environmental toxins. Pound for pound, they eat more, drink more and breath more than we do. Which means they eat, breathe and drink more bisphenol A, mercury, organochlorines, creosote, arsenic, pesticides, heavy metals, particulates. Beginning in the womb, they are bathed, basted and birthed in a toxic stew.

What are we to do, Peggy? See no toxin, hear no toxin, speak no toxin?
Worry all the more. Speak out and stop it, because it is all preventable.