[nagdu] new law in CT?

Marsha Drenth marsha.drenth at gmail.com
Wed Apr 29 13:45:06 UTC 2015


Health insurance to get a guide dog? really? Hmmmm sounds a bit fishy to me. 
I know we have a member or two of this list who live in CT, I wonder if they would come out and talk about this, if they know anything that is. or if Marion or the NAGDU board should call or talk to the CT NFB affiliate about this. 
Very very interesting...

Marsha drenth  
email: marsha.drenth at gmail.com  
Sent with my IPhone  
Please note that this email communication has been sent using my iPhone. As such, I may have used dictation and had made attempts to mitigate errors. Please do not be hesitant to ask for clarification as necessary. 

> On Apr 29, 2015, at 8:00 AM, Julie J. via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> A friend just sent me the below, which he saw on Facebook.  He is not a guide dog user, but was skeptical about the validity of the article.  I do remember hearing something about a law in Connecticut, but can’t remember the details.  Does anyone know anything about this?  Here’s the Facebook post:
> 
> *in Stamford, Connecticut – Yesterday, Sarah Kennedy, 27, of Stamford, learned that her request for a guide dog was denied by her health insurance provider, which will remain unnamed. Kennedy, who is totally blind, works as a part-time massage therapist and is a full-time mother to her two-year-old daughter Peyton.
> 
> She needs to retire her current guide dog, Nugget, so she applied for a new guide dog. “I need a guide dog to continue going to work,” she says. “Two nights per week, my husband comes home, and I go work a few hours. I like my job and want to stay fresh.”
> 
> Kennedy doesn’t only use her guide dog to go to work. She goes grocery shopping, runs errands, and even takes her daughter Peyton to the park during the day just like other moms.
> 
> It used to be that guide dogs came at little to no cost to their handlers, and no doctor or health insurance company had to approve people to get one. “I would just pay for the dog myself, but I don’t have that kind of money,” says Kennedy.
> 
> What might even be the most surprising is the reason she was denied. “The health insurance company said I couldn’t have a new guide dog because it might be a threat to my daughter. It’s a guide dog, not some stray animal.” In fact, guide dog schools spend tens of thousands of dollars training dogs, which is what makes them so expensive, and dogs that pose any threat of aggression are removed from the program. “Health insurance companies just don’t understand guide dogs and shouldn’t decline a request that they don’t understand.”
> 
> While some may say this sounds illegal, it is all thanks to Senate Bill 234, a bill passed by the Connecticut General Assembly on the same day her daughter was born. Blind people in Connecticut used to be able to make their own decisions about whether or not to get a guide dog. Guide dogs were funded by philanthropic donations, but, after guide dogs became funded by health insurance, the donors disappeared.
> 
> Kennedy is stuck. She is considering starting an organization for blind people in Connecticut to advocate for themselves and dreams of the day when the guide dog system returns to the good old days.
> 2 hrs · Public*
> 
> 
> 
> Any info on this would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Julie
> 
> 
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