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Finances

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The parents of a college-aged boy who sustained a TBI playing football wipe out their retirement savings paying for his medical care. A successful litigator can no longer work after an office shelf falls on his head; he has to hire a former colleague to help him get the benefits he is due. A single mother loses her job as an office assistant because there is no one to take care of her child who is a victim of shaken baby syndrome; she is now on welfare.

Traumatic brain injury can be as catastrophic financially as it is physically and emotionally. The person with TBI may no longer be able to work, or a family member may need to leave her job to become a fulltime caregiver.

Although navigating the financial system can be incredibly frustrating and time-consuming, your future can depend on mastering the fine points of personal finance, health insurance, government benefits, and the law. Unfortunately, you or your family members need to start thinking about finances as soon as possible after the injury.

What do you need to know?
To start, people need to think about how to minimize the amount of money going out for medical expenses and maximize the amount coming in through disability pay. Hiring an attorney is often the best way to accomplish this. A lawyer can help you sift through the “fine print” of the following:

• Health insurance
• Disability pay
• Medicaid / Medicare
• Disability insurance at work
• Workers’ compensation
• Leave sharing
• Social Security disability income
• Supplemental Social Security
• Disability pay and heath insurance for children
• Children with special heath care needs

Long-term financial issues
Depending on the age of the person with the TBI and the severity of injury, individuals with TBI or their family members will also want to learn about the following:

• Planning your estate
• Special Needs Trusts
• Trusts and Structured Settlements

Mastering the maze
Steering through financial and legal issues after a brain injury can feel like walking through a maze. Time, tenacity, and help from family, friends, and a lawyer can make all the difference. Asking for help, reading the fine print, and having confidence are crucial to finding a way through the maze.