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United Healthcare Grants for Children Who Need Speech Therapy

United Healthcare Children's Foundation (UHCF) is a non-profit organization that was created to cover gaps in health care. They provide grants for children covered by health insurance that have extensive medical needs that are not completely covered by their health insurance. Grants are given directly for individual children to help alleviate medical costs to the families. They provide grants for a wide range of needs including speech therapy which is often not covered by standard medical insurance.

  1. Amount

    • The amount of the grant is determined on a case by case basis. United Healthcare Children's Foundation gives grants in varying amounts up to $5,000 per child each year. Parents can apply for speech therapy grants each year. There is a lifetime limit of $7,500 per child.

    Eligibility

    • Children 16 and under can qualify for a grant. According to the United Healthcare Children's Foundation's website the "applicant must be covered by a commercial health benefit plan." The costs of the services needed must not be covered by that health plan or the co-pay must be shown to be a financial hardship to the family. Other restrictions are that the speech services be deemed necessary and beneficial to the child and that the child be seen by a professional speech therapist.

    Application

    • Applications are available at the UHCF's website. After viewing a short video about United Healthcare Children's Foundation's grant criteria and process the UHCF website takes the viewer to a list of questions that prescreens potential applicants. Parents that meet the criteria for applying for a grant will then be sent to their online application. Information that will be asked for in the application includes the child's medical diagnosis and recommended treatment, personal financial documents, and health care coverage information for the speech therapy.

    Administration

    • Any grant money award will go directly to the speech therapist for services. If the family would like reimbursement for services that have already been paid for they can submit receipts for those services.

    Denial

    • Applicants that are denied a grant can reapply again in 12 months. There are exceptions to this rule if the medical conditions of the child and their treatment needs have changed.

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