Hi, I’m T.J. Couey, Chief Advocate and Founder of the Bluegrass Alliance for Behavior Health.
For more than a decade, I’ve worked alongside families, providers, and policymakers across Kentucky to address one of the most persistent and harmful problems in our health care system: children with developmental disabilities—especially autism—being unable to access medically necessary care, even when that care is legally required.
The Bluegrass Alliance for Behavior Health is a Kentucky-based nonprofit created to help families navigate and overcome barriers to diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing behavioral health services. While many assume that insurance coverage or Medicaid approval means care is accessible, the reality is far more complicated. Families routinely face delays, denials, administrative obstacles, and a lack of available providers—leaving children without timely intervention during critical developmental windows.
Our mission is simple but urgent: to help children access the care they are entitled to in their own communities.
We do this by:
- Supporting families as they navigate Medicaid and insurance denials
- Acting on behalf of children directly with insurers to find diagnosis and treatment for them
- Educating parents and providers on their rights under state and federal law
- Identifying and documenting systemic access-to-care failures across in Kentucky, and across the country
- Advocating for enforcement, accountability, and policy reform so these barriers do not continue unchecked
Unlike direct service providers, Bluegrass focuses on the systems that determine whether care is actually delivered. When those systems fail, families are often left alone to fight complex processes they were never meant to manage on their own. We exist to change that.
Your support helps fund:
- Advocacy and family support efforts that guide caregivers through their inability to find diagnosis and treatment in their local community
- Educational resources families can use immediately when care is delayed or denied
- Act on behalf of the family when necessary care is delayed or denied
- Outreach and data-driven advocacy to hold payers and systems accountable
Every donation helps ensure that families are not left to navigate these challenges alone—and that children are not denied care simply because the system failed them.
Thank you for supporting Bluegrass Alliance for Behavior Health and for helping us work toward a future where access to care is not theoretical, but real.
Organizer
Bluegrass Alliance for Behavior Health LLC
Beneficiary