15 May 2016
Stuttering and Insurance Reimbursement (Ep. 579)
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Katie Gore joins Peter Reitzes to discuss stuttering and insurance reimbursement. Ms. Gore is asked about general health care terms such as co-pays, “case studies” and victories from her private practice in advocating for clients with their insurance companies, peer-to-peer meetings with insurance companies, how people who stutter and parents may consider advocating for themselves, how speech-language pathologists may consider advocating for clients, pre-authorization with insurance companies, the importance of contacting insurance companies with questions before beginning treatment, using pre-tax income to pay for treatment (such as flexible spending accounts), gap exceptions, diagnostic criteria and codes and so much more.
StutterTalk reports with great pride that Katie Gore has advocated so hard for clients that she has actually, on occasion, been informed by insurance companies that she has “maxed out” in the number of letters she is aloud to submit on a client’s behalf. Even so, when this occurs, Katie continues to advocate for her clients by assisting them in writing letters to their insurance companies.
Special thanks to the great Craig Coleman for recommending Katie Gore for today’s topic.
Katie Gore, MA, CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist, Director of Speech IRL and co-leader of the City of Chicago’s chapter of the National Stuttering Association. Ms. Gore made a splash last summer with her post The Australian Budget Lidcombe Proposal Debate: A Primer in Memes.
Links:
- Insurance 101 for 2016 by Katie Gore
- Insurance Advocacy and Stuttering (NSA brochure)
- ASHA ICD-10 Manual
- AETNA Speech Therapy Policy
- The University of Chicago Health Plan
- NSA Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapter
11 Jun 2016
The Physical Exhaustion of Stuttering (Ep. 582)
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Sarah Berkowitz joins Peter Reitzes to discuss the physical exhaustion of stuttering.
This conversation stems from a post Ms. Berkowitz made at Stuttering Arena in which she said, “Does anyone else ever feel physically exhausted from their stutter? Sometimes I feel like I just ran a marathon.”
Other topics include how and why telling your teacher about stuttering may be helpful, an amazing idea Ms. Berkowitz has to raise stuttering awareness by offering people who stutter the option to have stuttering listed on driver’s licenses and identification cards, her work with the The Stuttering Association for the Young (SAY), how she uses “phrasing” to help manage stuttering and so much more.
When discussing the physical exhaustion of stuttering, Ms. Berkowitz is asked about the following statement from Did I Stutter?
“Stuttering is only a problem—in fact is only abnormal—because our culture places so much value on efficiency and self-mastery. Stuttering breaks communication only because ableist notions have already decided how fast and smooth a person must speak to be heard and taken seriously.”
Ms. Berkowitz responded:
“I completely disagree with that statement. Stuttering is a problem in itself. We know stuttering is a real diagnosable disorder with a cause and that is not caused by society’s pressure to decide how fast or slow a stutterer should speak. Stuttering itself is separate from what society believes someone should sound like…That makes me feel like people are denying that stuttering is a real problem.”
Sarah Berkowitz is a 17 year old senior at Adlai E Stevenson High School. Sarah aims for a career working with children with special needs. She is one of the founding Board members of The Stuttering Association For the Young’s Chicago chapter. Recently Sarah performed at SAY’s 14th annual benefit gala and is one of the authors of SAY: Storytellers Vol. 1.
Links: