New benefit for the 2025/2026 school year

Multiple Sclerosis means definite multiple sclerosis. Both of the following two (2) criteria must be present: 

• There must be permanent functional neurological impairment with objective evidence of motor or sensory dysfunction, which must have persisted for a continuous period of at least 180 days.
• The diagnosis must also be confirmed with objective neurological investigations, such as lumbar puncture, evoked visual responses, evoked auditory responses and MRI evidence of lesions of the central nervous system.

Severe Autoimmune Disease means any named disorder, unless otherwise excluded, in which loss of function or destruction of normal tissue arises from humoral or cellular immune responses to the body's own tissue constituents that persists for at least 180 days. Autoimmune Disease includes, but is not limited to, myasthenia gravis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, scleroderma, Addison's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, dermatomyositis, polymyositis, sarcoidosis.

Severe Autoimmune Disease is characterized by at least one of the following conditions:

• Joint erosions, bony deformity, or joint fusion
• Permanent diffuse skin thickening (beyond face and fingers)
• Permanent (non-skin) organ damage or organ failure (e.g., intestine, pancreas, kidney, lung, heart, bone marrow).
• Permanent neurological deficit

Autoimmune Disease does not include:

• Activation of autoimmune mechanisms in patients with Cancer;
• Activation of autoimmune mechanisms in patients with an active infection;
• Activation of autoimmune mechanisms secondary to use of a drug;
• Osteoarthritis
• Eczema and other non-autoimmune skin conditions;
• Autoimmune thyroid disease (e.g., Graves and Hashimoto's);
• Diabetes (Type I and Type II);
• Primary immunodeficiency;
• Organ damage or failure not due to Autoimmune Disease; or
• Organ damage or failure due to Autoimmune disease that is not permanent.