Family Support Waiver (FSW)

After receiving Maddox’s diagnosis, I wanted to apply for the family support waiver service (FSW). Bureau of disability of Indiana.(BDDS) I made some phone calls and started the process. I made sure I told BDDS that my husband is Veteran, therefore Maddox could get on the waiver within 2-4 months instead of 2-4 years! I was excited to hear that, so I had had find my husband’s documents to show proof of his service.

The next step was to have a phone interview that lasted an hour. Once my phone interview was completed, she would send off the paperwork to have someone else approve the documents and sign off on it. Side note, online it tells you to apply for the Medicaid application when applying for the family support waiver. FYI do not do that!!! My friend told me this and I also confirmed with BBDS when I was filling out the family support waiver (FSW). If you filled out the Medicaid application at the time of FSW, you will get denied and then you would have to start the process all over!

One month has passed by, I followed up with an email, BDDS told me it was still in process. Then another month went by, I followed up again. I Finally followed up every month until I heard something.

 FINALLY, being a squeaky wheel, I received notification that Maddox was approved for the family support waiver! BIG NOTICE Here ONCE you have been approved for the family support waiver, YOU can now apply for Medicaid.

 The Medicaid insurance will pick up the rest of the bill that your primary insurance does not cover!

I also needed to get Maddox into pediatric dentist because I could tell he was getting cavities; we struggled brushing his teeth. I knew it would be helpful to have Medicaid to help pay for the sedation dentistry.

He was evaluated by Dr. Bozic in west Lafayette, highly recommend. I told his staff we were in the process of getting Medicaid since he just got approved of family support waiver (FSW), so I wanted to wait another month before he had his dentistry sedation. We scheduled him the first of October and I made weekly phone calls to Medicaid to follow up on the approval process.

Maddox’ dentistry sedation was approaching, and I still have not seen or heard any approval for the Medicaid. As a momma, I knew I needed to get his teeth fixed. The dentist staff told me they could backpay up to 30 days, so we went ahead with the process, Maddox had caps put on for his cavities, I had to drive him down to Carmel for the dentistry sedation. They did all his dental work!

ONE Month went by and I received my bill, it was 14,000!! OMG!! There is no way I could afford that, so thank goodness our primary insurance covered some and then Medicaid picked up the rest! What a relief!!!