State / Government / Social Help

[Spela]

Hello,

my name is Spela and I am coming from Slovenia. I've got coeliac disease. I study social work and I would like to present our position to my classmates. I would like to find out what sorts of help can get a person with coeliac disease in different countries in the world.

We don't have good organization in Slovenia. It is possible that parents get special financial help for his child. It is sort of social assistence and they get app. 100

[navigator]

Hi, I'm from Scotland where we have a free National Health Service (as in the rest of the UK). However, in Scotland there are also no longer prescription charges. Once there is a diagnosis of coeliac you are entitled to free basic gluten free foodstuffs on prescription. So now in Scotland these basic foodstuffs(pasta, bread, bread mix, cake mix, pizza bases etc) are completely free. All associated health checks, such as bone density screening, are also free.

Hope that this helps.

I'm also a social worker working for my local authority in the criminal justice section.

[Jestgar]

In the US there is no assistance specific to celiac disease, that I know of. There can be some help for children in school based on the Americans with Disabilities Act, and hopefully someone with kids will post about that.

[Mack the Knife]

In Australia we have a free health care system (Medicare) so we can get tested, biopsied and treated for Coeliac disease regardless of whether or not we have private health insurance. Because Coeliac disease is a chronic condition we can get put an an enhanced healthcare plan as well. This means that we can claim things that are normally not covered by the healthcare system (like a visit to a dietician)

However, we don't receive any subsidies to buy specialty gluten free foods.

We have a great national Coeliac society Open Original Shared Link and we receive a lot of discounts through being members of the society.