Does insurance cover growth hormone shots?

amother

Gladiolus

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 6:46 pm

amother Blush wrote:

I would imagine that if she is not growth hormone deficiency then it is not medically indicated. Why would insurance pay for medication not medically indicated.

(Even if you want /believe it would help, insurance shouldn’t pay for it, just as they shouldn’t provide me with Ozempic if I am 35lb overweight with no co-morbidity)

It's very much dependent on the insurance company. It may help you to find an advocate to get you approved.

I don't know what the test is called, but it's a three hour test that measures growth hormone levels more comprehensively than a regular blood test. DC's growth hormone levels were regular on the regular blood test but they found deficiencies in the more comprehensive test. You may want to push to have that done.

A year behind in bone age is neither here nor there because from what I understand the reading can be a year off either way.

But you should go to a pediatric endroconolgist to explain this to you and help navigate.

If you're in the Lakewood area, I highly recommend Dr. Craig Alter from CHOP, and yes we paid out of pocket to see him.

amother

Yellow

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 7:36 pm

amother Foxglove wrote:

As far as I know, In the UK they don't give GH to kids who aren't deficient because the risk of side effects outweighs the benefit.
Did she have any genetic tests done? Specifically SHOX micro deletion and and Russel silver syndrome. They cause short stature but normal growth hormone levels. Growth hormones have been proven to help. Also did she test for celiac? It can cause short stature as the only symptom. My son had this. We only found out due to his tiny size. But he is also growth hormone deficient.

Same for my niece

amother

Darkblue

Wed, Feb 14 2024, 8:00 pm

I found some drs on manhattan were able to get my private insurance to approve growth hormone shots for idiopathic short stature even if the stim test did not show growth hormone deficiency. We needed to do a lot of testing first. We did it because his drs felt it would help a little. If it helped it was very little. But insurance did cover it while my ds was doing this.