It seems like our life revolves around medical appointments for my son with autism and ADHD: ongoing cognitive therapy, medication management from his psychiatrist and nutritionist sessions, to name a few. How do I plan for all of this from a financial perspective? I have a robust medical sinking fund in our budget.
If you have an autistic child, you too should have a medical sinking fund as a category in your budget. It will help pay for your part of your health insurance deductible, co-pays, coinsurance and fees that aren’t covered by insurance.
What is a sinking fund?
Sinking funds cover certain expenses that occur regularly but are not the same every month. Think about quarterly insurance payments, digital annual subscriptions, home improvements and gifts for the holidays. While these aren’t monthly expenses, you still need to account for them each month so that your budget isn’t sidelined when the bills come due.
Medical expenses may indeed come monthly for a family with an autistic child. Yet, those expenses aren’t the same usually every month. They come sporadically as medical bills make their way through insurance processes or when services occur.
Why do I need a medical sinking fund?
It is important to have a robust medical sinking fund when you have a child with autism and ADHD because medical bills are one of the ways that families are financially impacted by autism.
Having a medical sinking fund can ensure that you can pay medical bills when they arrive. Expenses generally vary month-to-month for most of us who have autistic children. One month may be light with a couple of co-pays and some over-the-counter medicines. Other months can be heavy in expenses. That can include the time period when you have to pay higher out-of-pocket amounts until you reach your deductible. (And be sure the provider is submitting all claims to your insurance to ensure every dollar counts toward that deductible!)
How do I find the money for a sinking fund?
So how can you build up a medical sinking fund? For me, I have a medical category in my monthly budget. I have a designated amount that I put into for each paycheck. I know expenses are going to be much higher in the early part of the year as we are paying our part of the insurance deductible. Then, it will be lower usually in the second half of the year. I don’t vary the amount – I put in the same amount knowing it will balance out over time.
In addition, I receive an annual bonus from my day job. One of our line items for our bonus spending plan is always to add to the medical sinking fund.
How can you find ways to boost your sinking fund?
- Make sure your medical sinking fund is a category in your monthly budget and ensure you are putting a good amount into it from each paycheck.
- Use a portion of any bonuses, tax returns, gifts, rebates or any other windfall money for your medical sinking fund.
- Sell unused items and put the money in this sinking fund. You can post “for sale” notices on your local Facebook Marketplace, E-bay, Craigslist, Next Door or other online marketplaces.
- If you have major expenses that you cannot manage on your own, consider crowdsourcing. You can use GoFundMe, MedGift or JustGiving. See this guide from MedGift for ideas about how to do this.
Do you have a medical sinking fund? What other helpful tips do you have for boosting it? Leave a comment so that we can share and encourage each other on this journey.
