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

Childhood Cancer Lantern
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North Dakota program

State help with your child’s illness costs

Special Health Services helps with illness costs for children under 21, including children with cancer.

What it is

Special Health Services helps with illness costs for children under 21, including children with cancer.

Special Health Services names cancer and leukemia among its eligible conditions. It can help with treatment, medicines and home health, and connect care across services. Existing Medicaid or CHIP does not rule out every kind of help.

Eligibility rules
  • Coverage ends at the twenty-first birthday. Cancer and leukemia are on the eligible-condition list.
  • The handbook uses 185% of poverty to calculate family participation. Income above that level can produce a monthly cost share; it is not an automatic exclusion from SHS.
  • SHS reviews annual income, generally gross income, with different treatment of self-employment, farming and seasonal income. SHS confirms whose income counts, the annual period and the current dollar guideline. At age 18, the handbook describes a separate own-income review.
What you get
  • $5,000 per child in a 12-month period is the combined diagnostic and treatment maximum.
  • Help coordinating care for your child.
What the help includes
  • The $5,000 combined limit is stated in the program handbook.
  • Special Health Services can pay up to $5,000 a year toward approved treatment costs your insurance leaves. Above about $4,212 a month for three people, the family pays a share equal to the income over that line, spread across the year; other medical bills you pay can reduce the share.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the oncology social worker about a Special Health Services referral.
  2. If you decide to apply, fill in the application and the financial form with pay stubs; the oncology team adds the medical section.

701-328-4816 — Special Health Services, North Dakota Health and Human Services · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • Special Health Services reviews financial and medical information. The oncology team can supply the medical records.
Good to know

It does not directly pay travel, meals or lodging, though those expenses can count toward a family cost share.

Other details
  • An insurance payment sent to you for covered care must be passed to the hospital or doctor.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could Special Health Services help with costs our insurance leaves us? What would our share be, and could you help us apply if the help is worthwhile?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know which illness expenses this program could take off our budget.

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 in the three documents and the income proof, and ask what the cost share would be.

Your social worker

The oncology social worker can refer you and supply the medical side.

The care team

Records and letters when the application asks for them.

Who decides
Special Health Services at North Dakota Health and Human Services.
Ask your social worker
“Can you help us apply to Special Health Services, and ask them what our monthly cost share would be?”

How to apply

First step: Call 701-328-4816 and ask for the Financial Coverage Program application: forms SFN 1103 and SFN 970 plus income proof.

  1. Call Special Health Services on 701-328-4816 and ask for the Financial Coverage Program forms.
  2. Ask what your monthly cost share would be before you count on the help.
  3. Ask about state care coordination at the same time; it costs nothing.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Complete SFN 1103, SFN 970 and the financial verification, then call 701-328-4816.

What to gather

  • Proof of income for everyone in the home
  • The diagnosis letter
  • Insurance details

How long: Not published. Ask for a date when you send the forms.

What a yes looks like

A letter saying what the programme will cover and what your monthly cost share is.

What a no looks like, and the next move

The decision identifies the service, financial or other issue. Income above 185% can create a family share rather than close the route.

Watch out

  • It does not pay travel, meals or lodging directly, though those can count toward a cost share.
  • If your insurer sends a cheque to you, you must pass it to the hospital or doctor.
  • The 2026 dollar table is not published, so ask the office for your own line rather than reading last year’s.

Dates that change this

2026-05-01: The reviewed material confirms annual-income review and May guideline updates. SHS confirms the current dollar worksheet; 185% of poverty is a family-participation reference, not an upper eligibility ceiling.

2026-09-11: The May 2025 fact sheet says the monthly cost share is capped at $3,000; the family handbook says eligibility is decided case by case above $3,000. The current rule is unsettled, so ask the programme what your cost share would be. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

Help with eligible illness-related services for a child under 21, up to $5,000 in a 12-month period. Income above 185% of poverty can create a family share.

  • $5,000 — Maximum for diagnostic and treatment services combined, per child per 12 months (handbook, undated)
  • $185/year — Reference point for family participation, not an upper eligibility ceiling

Covers: Diagnosis and treatment tied to the condition · Medicines · Inpatient hospital care · Home health care instead of a hospital stay · Care coordination by state staff

What it costs the family: A family share can apply above 185% of poverty. SHS confirms the current worksheet and any review when the calculated monthly share exceeds $3,000.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
up to the 21st birthday
Condition
the published eligible-condition list names LEUKEMIA and CANCER
Income
annual-income review, generally gross income with separate farm/self-employment and seasonal rules; 185% of poverty is a participation reference, not an automatic denial ceiling. SHS confirms the current dollar table, annual period and household. The handbook describes own-income review from age 18.
Other coverage
can help a child with Medicaid or CHIP in limited circumstances

The trap: It does not pay for travel, meals or lodging directly, though those costs can count toward a monthly cost share. If your insurance sends a cheque to you rather than the hospital, you have to pass it on to the provider.

Where I read this

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