Relief Funds pay for services families incur for their children and youth with special health care needs/disabilities that are not covered by private insurance, Medicaid, or any other public or private programs. Relief Funds function as a payer of last resort for families who struggle financially to meet the health care needs of their children and can help relief family financial hardship.

Financial hardship is common among families raising CYSHCN. This Catalyst Center policy brief describes the three distinct but interconnected pathways. 

This guide is designed for policymakers, advocates, legislators, consumers, family members, and providers – in short, for anyone interested in financing care for children and youth with special health care needs at the state level, and in particular through the Medicaid program.

Families face significant challenges in caring for their CSHCN. For many families, one of these challenges is the economic impact of inadequate health care coverage. Families must make hard choices about how to spend limited salaries and then make substantial sacrifices in other domains to ensure adequate care for their children. But for other families, the resources to pay for care are simply not there. Children and youths who are uninsured or whose insurance does not pay for critical components of care may experience adverse outcomes in relation to health, development, and capacity to function because their families just cannot afford to pay for vitally needed care.