Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
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Michigan program

Help with your child’s specialist care (CSHCS)

Children’s Special Health Care Services helps pay for a qualifying condition, with no family income ceiling.

What it is

Children’s Special Health Care Services helps pay for a qualifying condition, with no family income ceiling.

CSHCS can help even when income is too high for ordinary Medicaid. It pays for the approved condition after other insurers. A specialist’s medical report is the starting point.

Eligibility rules
  • Your child must be under 26, live in Michigan and meet CSHCS medical criteria. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia appears on the diagnosis list.
  • CSHCS checks qualifying citizenship or immigration status for the client or, for a minor, a parent or court-appointed guardian. The family page includes citizens, documented permanent residents and legally admitted migrant farmworkers. The coordinator confirms the applicable category.
  • The yearly fee runs from $120 for a family of four earning under about $5,500 a month to $2,964 above about $13,750 a month. No fee is charged while your child has full Medicaid or MIChild.
What you get
  • Specialist care for the approved condition, with a yearly fee from $120 to $2,964 when the fee schedule applies.
  • A local coordinator and help arranging treatment-related travel.
What the help covers
  • The fee guide does not apply while full Medicaid, MIChild or Healthy Michigan Plan is active.
  • CSHCS can approve travel and a room for your child and one adult for outpatient care; ask the coordinator what it pays.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask your local CSHCS office to review a specialist report less than a year old.
  2. If you are considering enrollment, ask the coordinator to explain MSA-0737 and payment agreement MSA-0738 before you decide.

MDHHS CSHCS, on a medical review of the specialist record: 1-800-359-3722 · Official page ↗

If you decide to apply
  • A medical reviewer checks the specialist’s report. The local office can explain the payment agreement before you sign it.
Good to know

CSHCS covers the approved condition, not all health care. For the lowest fee, coverage can end after 90 days without the required other-coverage application.

Other details
  • The lowest-fee agreement initially allows 90 days of coverage. Continuing coverage requires the specified comprehensive-coverage application within that period; otherwise CSHCS coverage ends. The coordinator can explain the requirement, proof and any exemption before you sign.
  • A diagnosis on the list starts a medical review, not automatic approval. The reviewer checks severity, chronicity and need for specialist care. The coordinator also checks status and fee exemptions, including full Medicaid coverage and qualifying guardian or foster arrangements.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could CSHCS help with our child’s cancer care? What would the fee and uncovered costs be, and could you help with enrollment if the benefits outweigh them?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know whether condition-specific help would reduce costs alongside our insurance.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Send a recent specialist report, complete MSA-0737 and sign the yearly payment agreement.

Your social worker

The oncology clinic provides the report; the local CSHCS office helps with the forms and the travel help.

The care team

The oncologist’s recent report is the whole medical case.

Who decides
MDHHS CSHCS, after a medical review of the specialist record.
Ask your social worker
“Can we enrol in Children’s Special Health Care Services? Leukaemia is on the diagnosis list, and I understand there is no income limit, only a yearly fee.”

How to apply

First step: Ask the oncology clinic for a current report and call 1-800-359-3722 or your local CSHCS office this week.

  1. Ask the oncology clinic for a current specialist report and send it to the local CSHCS office.
  2. Call 1-800-359-3722 to start.
  3. Complete forms MSA-0737 and MSA-0738.
  4. Ask about travel and lodging help at the same time.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Start with a specialist medical record less than a year old and your local CSHCS office. Enrolment is form MSA-0737; the payment agreement is MSA-0738.

What to gather

  • A specialist report less than a year old
  • Household income for the payment agreement
  • Insurance cards
  • Michigan address

How long: No enrolment decision time was published. The fee guide is updated at least once a year.

What a yes looks like

An enrolment notice, a yearly payment agreement, a named local coordinator, and cover for treatment of the qualifying condition after your other insurers.

What a no looks like, and the next move

The notice identifies the medical, status, documentation or other condition behind a denial. The coordinator and specialist can explain whether further evidence or review is appropriate.

Watch out

  • It is not general insurance. It pays for the qualifying condition, and other insurers are billed first.
  • CSHCS travel uses separate approvals and reimbursement rules. The coordinator confirms any meal question; Medicaid meal rates do not establish a CSHCS benefit.
  • The fee guide does not apply while full Medicaid, MIChild or the Healthy Michigan Plan is running.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Specialist treatment for the named condition with no family income limit. The yearly fee runs from $120 to $2,964 by income.

  • $120/year — Yearly payment agreement, lowest tier
  • $192/year — Yearly payment agreement, second tier
  • $372/year — Yearly payment agreement, third tier
  • $732/year — Yearly payment agreement, fourth tier
  • $1,476/year — Yearly payment agreement, fifth tier
  • $2,964/year — Yearly payment agreement, top tier, no income ceiling above it
  • $90 — Initial coverage period requiring a comprehensive-coverage application to continue CSHCS under the lowest-fee agreement

Covers: Specialist treatment for the qualifying condition · Care coordination · Help with travel, and lodging for an outpatient child and one adult

Legal protection: No family income ceiling · Private insurance and Medicaid can run alongside it

What it costs the family: April 1, 2026 annual fees are $120–$2,964 under the applicable income calculation. Full Medicaid, MIChild and Healthy Michigan coverage and qualifying guardian/foster arrangements require fee-exemption review. Lowest-fee coverage initially lasts 90 days and ends without the required comprehensive-coverage application.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
under 26
Income
no family income ceiling; income sets the yearly fee only
Diagnosis
A listed condition, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia, starts medical review. Severity, chronicity and the need for specialty care also decide approval.
Residency
Michigan
Citizenship
Qualifying status for the client or, for a minor, a parent or court-appointed guardian. The MDHHS family page names citizens, documented permanent residents and legally admitted migrant farmworkers; the coordinator confirms the applicable category.

Decisions this site cannot make: Medical review of the specialist record against the CSHCS diagnosis list · Annual payment agreement, form MSA-0738

Expect friction on: An annual fee that rises with income · Other insurers are billed before CSHCS

The trap: This is not general insurance. It pays for treatment related to the qualifying diagnosis, not for a sore throat, and other insurers are billed first. The fee guide does not apply while full Medicaid, MIChild or the Healthy Michigan Plan is running.

Where I read this

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