Due to Connor’s diagnosis of tuberous sclerosis complex, he qualified for Katie Beckett Medicaid (known as TEFRA in some states). He is eligible for that program based solely on his medical condition. Parent finances are not a consideration. It acts as a secondary insurance, picking up a lot of what isn’t covered by our primary insurance. It is the reason we are able to get him so much therapy. As a result of qualifying for Medicaid, he also qualifies for the Health Insurance Premium Payment Program (HIPP). It assists with the monthly cost of the premium of our private insurance we get through my husband’s employer by reimbursing us on a monthly basis. Basically, it’s cheaper for the state to make sure we are able to keep our private insurance, rather than lose it and resort to full Medicaid.

We had recently been Googling to try and figure out whether a couple other states had similar programs to HIPP and were struggling to find the information. My husband was surprised to find a list of all states with such programs in his recent benefits enrollment package. I thought I’d post the contact information in case others were not aware of the possibility of applying for this program. We were lucky that Connor’s early intervention coordinator is really good about letting us know about various programs, but I meet a lot of people that have no idea. Hope this is helpful to other special needs families.