Texas is one of the few states protecting vital rehabilitation funds for cognitively injured people. Many insurance companies are accused of ending coverage after only a few months following a traumatic brain injury. Doctors say that patients who sustain a severe head injury may have about a year and a half to get back memory and cognitive skills that were stolen in an instant. Specialized rehabilitation is expensive, meaning that without insurance to pay for the treatment, many patients with brain damage aren’t getting the help they need to reclaim their lives.
Cognitive rehabilitation, which is a set of therapies designed to recapture brain-injured patients’ abilities, is often recommended by doctors. Insurance companies, however, have to keep costs down. This means that the full therapy goals of a person with brain trauma may not be met by insurance providers. It’s a problem that faces 90,000 people a year who are expected to suffer long-term disability due to their brain damage.
According to the Brain Injury Association of America, arbitrary limits on how much cognitive rehabilitation an injured person receives don’t make sense. The group said that every individual suffering from brain injury requires individualized treatment. Fortunately for Texas residents, the state has ordered insurers to cover the rehab services for however long they are needed. Cognitively disabled people in most other US states are not as lucky.
Traumatic brain injury can mean the loss of thinking ability and communication skills, but more devastating still is the loss of independence. An Austin brain injury lawyer with experience in finding compensation for medical expenses may be able to help individuals and families going through the horror of brain trauma. Such assistance may include money for rehabilitation therapy, long-term care, and other needs.
