No I’m not asking for legal advice, I’m more asking like where to start and what benefits it might offer my roommate.
Brownie is an awesome friendly dog, and I think he deserves the badge of emotional support animal. Question is, where to start?
No I’m not asking for legal advice, I’m more asking like where to start and what benefits it might offer my roommate.
Brownie is an awesome friendly dog, and I think he deserves the badge of emotional support animal. Question is, where to start?
Oh I get that, and I don’t expect Brownie is in any way smart enough to fully qualify as a proper service animal.
But I do think he brings love and joy to practically everyone, no matter what age the people are. And he’s very much housebroken, so no accidents indoors.
Hell, there have been registered emotional support horses and alligators before, no joke, so I just find myself wondering if I can help find a way for my roommate to get Brownie registered as an emotional support dog… 🤷
Then I guess I’m unclear what you hope to accomplish if you already know there will be no legal privileges or protections. You could draw up your own certification and frame it, Brownie won’t know the difference.
Emotional support horses have been allowed on airplanes. The least I could try to help my roommate with is trying to help get his dog qualified to purchase dog food off his health insurance card. Airplane not necessary.
Like fuck, there’s gotta be a way, right? Where to start though?..
No, there is no way. That will be entirely up to the airline. They treat non-service animals as pets, with all the rules and regulations that apply. There’s nothing that obligates them to treat an emotional support animal any differently than any other pet.
I did a little digging into that horse story. It seems it may actually have been a trained service animal and not just an ESA. But in either case, the DOT has since updated its rules to exclude miniature horses from being allowed on airplanes.
Again, airplane not necessary, my roommate ain’t planning to fly anywhere.
I’m just curious to try to help him get qualified to purchase dog food from his health insurance card…
That sounds like it’s up to the insurance company. But, again, there is nothing in the way of being an emotional support animal that would compel it to be covered by insurance, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up for it being covered. A service animal may be a different story.
I do thank you for your advice, but I’m just not sure.
His previous healthcare provider allowed him to purchase dog food, but he switched providers and not sure if there’s a proper solution to that this year…
I dunno, just trying to help my roommate ya know.
I don’t have my hopes up, but I don’t have my hopes down either. Just asking around ya know…
I don’t know you or your roommate’s current financial situation, but if they’re struggling to buy dog food there may be assistance programs, perhaps not for the dog, but for his own expenses, that can free up money for the dog.
Oh it’s not exactly a dire financial struggle, hell one big bag of dog food for him costs something like $8 a bag, and might last upwards of 2 months. And yes he has a dedicated airtight container to keep the food fresh.
Just looking and talking around to see what all, if any options he might have with his new health insurance provider to try to save a few dollars here and there.
Best I’ve gathered so far from comments here, I’ve already advised him to just talk to his doctors and perhaps his case manager next time he’s got an appointment.
I’m pretty sure you can’t even do that with traditional service dogs. I think vet and food expenses for a service dog can be deducted from taxes as a medical expense (not financial advice!) but not charged to human health insurance.
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