Seniors experience a variety of physical and emotional challenges as they age. These can include not only the emotional void left by the departure of adult children from their home and the death of a beloved spouse or other loved ones but just as commonly the physical challenges that go along with aging such as difficulties with mobility, vision and hearing.
Pets, and specifically dogs, can be invaluable companions to help Seniors navigate all of these potential obstacles that they may inevitably face in their golden years by providing much-needed daily companionship and love to Seniors whose spouse has passed or whose adult children have moved out of the house, and just as importantly, assisting Seniors with daily tasks that they can no longer manage themselves.
What Are Service Dogs?
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service animals are defined as follows: Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities not only in the privacy of their own home but in public facilities as well. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure and reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications.
How Can The Pet Health Matching Account Ease The Financial Burden Of Owning Service Dogs?
How Your Service Dog Will Qualify For A $2,000 PHMA® Credit
Service dogs must meet certain criteria and complete the proper training to qualify as a service dog. The type of training that a service animal needs will depend on the type of service animal. Typically, there are 8 types of service dogs that will each have to learn and demonstrate the required skill sets during their training to qualify as a service dog.
These include:
Guide Dogs
Hearing Dogs
Diabetic Alert Dogs
Mobility Assistance Dogs
Seizure Response Dogs
Autism Support Dogs
Allergy Detection Dogs
Psychiatric Service Dogs
PHMA® owners may use up to $2,000 of their current PHMA® account balance for the purchase and training costs of their service dog. To qualify, PHMA® owners must submit a recommendation letter from their primary care physician (MD only) that explains the need for a service dog as well as completing and submitting the PHMAS® mail-in reimbursement form and an itemized receipt showing expenses incurred during the training program as well as proof that the training program was completed.
