Mentally Handicapped, Special Home: HSA Eligibility
Mentally Handicapped, Special Home: requires a Letter of Medical Necessity (LMN) to be eligible with a Health Savings Account (HSA)What is a special home for an intellectually and/or developmentally disabled person?
A special home may be recommended by a psychiatrist to help a person who is intellectually and/or developmentally disabled adjust from life in a mental hospital to community living. This may not be the house of a relative, though. The recommending psychiatrist will have to provide a Letter of Medical Necessity (LMN) in order for the expense of the home to be considered eligible for reimbursement with a consumer-directed healthcare account.
Special homes for intellectually and/or developmentally disabled persons may care for a variety of intellectual or developmental disabilities. These homes often have specialized programs to care and nurture for individuals who have specialized needs based on their disability. It's common for homes to emphasize which disabilities are within their specialty. Example of disabilities that a home might excel in caring for include autism, cerebral palsy, Asperger's syndrome, down syndrome, Williams syndrome, seizure disorders, and general intellectual disabilities.
Special homes for intellectually and/or developmentally disabled person may offer a variety of programming and forms of care to help their residents. Homes may offer life coach training, life skills training, education and college-like education track for college-aged patients, employment facilitation or assistance, and so on. These are usually integrated in an individual program plan with goals to establish and maintain a quality of life that is both ambitious and reasonable given an individual resident's needs and limitations (Mental Health America).
Families that choose to house their dependent in a special home may have expenses related to the housing considered eligible for reimbursement under a consumer-directed healthcare account if a psychiatrist can provide a Letter of Medical Necessity (LMN) indicating that the home is necessary and helpful in the individual's transition from a mental hospital.