Without drug rehab funding by insurance or government, many will stay addicted

Unless you’re an A-list celebrity, paying for drug rehab can be difficult. Even when someone has health insurance that covers drug rehab centers, the coverage is typically only good for certain in-network drug rehab programs, some outpatient treatment and possibly alcohol or drug detox. Most plans do not cover the kind of long-term inpatient drug rehab programs that get results. And if they do cover it, the monthly premiums are extremely expensive.

Despite the fact that drug addiction has become epidemic, especially now that prescription drug addiction has been added to the mix, substance-abuse spending fell from 2.1 percent of all health spending in 1986 to 1.3 percent in 2003. The average annual growth rate for substance-abuse spending was 4.8 percent, while total U.S. health spending grew by 8 percent a year, according to a recent article.
 
Several years ago I had a friend I was helping get into drug rehab. We found a successful drug rehab program with a very good success rate. He was willing to go, and wanted to change his life. He had worked full time for years and had insurance coverage. But when we checked the details of the coverage we found that the insurance didn’t cover inpatient drug rehab, and he made too much money to get into a state-run program.

As it turned out, he was covered for a few weeks of outpatient treatment. He did the treatment, but he has struggled with relapse for years. Unfortunately, he is one of millions of Americans in the same boat. If insurance companies aren’t going to cover successful drug rehab on their own, the government should step in so we can get drug addiction handled once and for all.

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