Funding a GPS tracker in the United States

• Most likely route: a Medicaid waiver or state developmental disability program, through your child’s case manager or service coordinator.
• Worth a call: your state’s assistive technology program, to borrow or try devices.
• Unlikely, as far as we can find: private insurance, FSA and HSA accounts, and nonprofit grants. Details below.
• Whatever the route: ask in writing, name the safety need, and keep copies.

Home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers let states use Medicaid to provide services at home and in the community instead of in an institution. They became available in 1983 under section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act, and 47 states and DC operate at least one.^[1] States also have related options, such as 1915(i) state plan services.^[1]

Waivers are aimed at particular groups. States can target them by age or diagnosis, such as autism, and a person must need the level of care that would qualify them for an institution. States also choose the maximum number of people a waiver serves.^[2]

One detail matters for families: waivers can let states provide Medicaid to people who would otherwise be eligible only in an institution, often because of the income and resources of a spouse or parent.^[2] So a family whose income is too high for regular Medicaid may still want to ask about a waiver.

Standard waiver services include case management, personal care, respite and habilitation, and states can propose other services as well.^[2] The ones that matter for a safety device usually go by names like assistive technology, adaptive aids, specialized medical equipment, personal emergency response systems and environmental accessibility adaptations. Each state page below shows the exact names its programs use.

Every state’s approved waivers are searchable on Medicaid.gov: State Waivers List.^[3]

Children already on Medicaid

Children under 21 enrolled in Medicaid have the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit. States must furnish Medicaid coverable, appropriate and medically necessary services needed to correct and ameliorate health conditions.^[4] We found no federal guidance on whether that reaches a GPS tracker. If your child has Medicaid, it is a fair question for their doctor and care coordinator.

Every state runs its waivers and other disability services through its own agency, with its own names and its own front door. We have written guides for the five most populous states. Each one names the programs, who qualifies in general terms, how to apply, and what to ask, with links to the official pages.

• California→Regional centers and the Department of Developmental Services, including the HCBS waiver.
• Texas→HHSC waivers including HCS, TxHmL and CLASS, through your local IDD authority.
• Florida→The Agency for Persons with Disabilities and the iBudget Florida waiver.
• New York→OPWDD, starting at the Front Door, and its home and community-based services waiver.
• Pennsylvania→ODP's Consolidated, Community Living and P/FDS waivers, through your county MH/ID office.

In another state, search the Medicaid.gov State Waivers List for your state’s 1915(c) waivers, then contact the agency that runs the one for developmental disabilities.

The federal Assistive Technology Act funds a program in every state. These programs run device demonstrations, device loans that let you borrow equipment for a limited time before buying it, reuse of equipment someone no longer needs, and state financing such as financial loans.^[5]

Find yours in the AT3 Center directory of state AT Act programs.^[6] We have not confirmed whether any of them lends GPS trackers, so ask. Even if they do not, staff can be useful people to talk to about what your child would actually wear.

We could not find any official source showing that private health insurance plans cover GPS trackers for children who wander. Coverage depends entirely on your plan, so treat it as unlikely.

If you want to try, call the member services number on your card, ask whether the plan covers a locating device for a documented wandering risk, and ask for the answer in writing so you have a record.

IRS Publication 502 is the IRS guide to which medical and dental expenses count. It defines medical care expenses as those primarily to alleviate or prevent a physical or mental disability or illness, and lists expenses you can include.^[7] GPS trackers are not on that list, and we found no IRS guidance that addresses them. Publication 502 also notes that its rules are not the rule for whether a flexible spending arrangement (FSA) can reimburse an expense.^[7]

So we cannot tell you that a tracker qualifies. Ask your FSA or HSA plan administrator before you spend from the account.

We looked for nonprofit grant programs that pay for a GPS tracker and are open now, or open on a regular cycle. We could not verify one, so we are not listing any. Some programs we checked give out other safety items, or work through police departments rather than families, and some were not taking requests when we looked. We will add grants here when we can confirm them.

Name the safety need, not the product. Describe the wandering, what makes it dangerous for your child, and what you are asking the program to help with. Then ask what they need from you.

Wandering and diagnosis codes

ICD-10-CM, the diagnosis code set used in US medical records, includes code Z91.83, “Wandering in diseases classified elsewhere”. The official code list says to code first the underlying condition, such as autism (F84), intellectual disabilities (F70 to F79) or Alzheimer’s disease (G30).^[8],[9]

Whether that code, or any code, belongs in your child’s record is a clinical decision for their doctor, not for you or for us. What you can do is ask your child’s doctor or coordinator whether the wandering is documented in their records, and whether they would write a short letter describing it.

A sample request letter

Change everything in square brackets, cut anything that does not fit, and send it by email or letter so you have a record.

The letter is a starting point, not legal or medical wording. Your coordinator may have a form of their own; if so, use it, and attach the letter.