Who Pays for Detox
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Who Pays for Detox
Patients who wish to become abstinent and/or enter treatment for substance abuse may be first required to go through detoxification or detox. Although detoxification is a necessary first step prior to entry into rehab for alcohol or drug abuse, it is not, in itself, treatment. A lot of confusion occurs over who pays for detox. The answer isn’t a simple one.
Insurance May Cover Detox
Depending on an individual’s company or private health insurance, reimbursement for detoxification services may be covered by the policy. But some third-party payors prefer to separate detox services from treatment and only reimburse them separately.
This is known as “unbundling” and can result in a patient either not receiving the full spectrum of counseling services which may be necessary during detoxification, or the services are separated into scattered segments.
What’s important to note is that detox can’t be isolated from the entire addiction treatment process. Recovery experts note that effective detoxification involves not only the removal of substances of abuse from the patient’s body but also entry into treatment. Research studies show that detox coupled with appropriate levels of treatment result in increased rates of recovery and less need for repeat detox and treatment services in the future.
Loans, Private-Pay
If insurance doesn’t cover detox, separates reimbursement for detox and treatment, or the individual doesn’t have insurance, paying for detox may require borrowing from family or friends, using savings, credit cards, or taking out a personal loan.
Since detox and treatment services for substance abuse can take place in a variety of different settings, each with varying degrees of basic services, amenities, and additional services, the costs can range widely. Residential detox and treatment facilities, while generally the most expensive, may offer some patients with long-term substance abuse the best chance of an effective treatment outcome.
Settings Where Detox Services Take Place
Detox may take place in a number of different settings:
• Physician’s Office – often the patient’s first point of contact where initiation into treatment begins. Referrals to appropriate outpatient or inpatient detoxificaton services.
• Free-standing Urgent Care Center or Emergency Department – including triage, assessment, linkage to ongoing detoxification services, transfer to appropriate setting where complete care can be provided.
• Free-standing Substance Abuse or Mental Health Facility – includes medically monitored inpatient detoxification and clinically monitored residential detoxification facilities.
• Intensive Outpatient and Partial Hospitilization Programs – appropriate to patients with mild to moderate withdrawal symptoms.
• Acute Care Inpatient Settings – including acute care general hospitals, acute care addiction treatment units in acute care general hospitals, acute care psychiatric hospitals, and other appropriately licensed chemical dependency specialty hospitals
Help Available Through Agencies
Anyone who wants to get treatment for substance abuse, dependence, or addiction should not let inability to pay for detox and treatment stand in their way. Help is available through federal, state, and local agencies.
A good first step is to utilize the Treatment Facility Locator maintained by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), located at http://dasis3.samhsa.gov/. Representatives are also available by phone at the toll-free treatment referral helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
If a person has no money and no insurance, but wants and needs detox and treatment for substance abuse problems, use the Detailed Search or List Search and check the boxes for “sliding fee scale” and “payment assistance.” Then call the treatment facilities directly to inquire about their policies.
In addition, individuals looking to find payment assistance for detox and treatment can call their State Substance Abuse Agency. The SAMHSA site provides a listing of these agencies at http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/ufds/abusedirectors.
--Suzannekane 21:03, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
