How Does Medical Insurance Help with Drug Rehab

For millions of Americans addicted to drugs and alcohol in need of drug rehab and alcoholism treatment, the cost of addiction treatment resources makes getting help seem to be out of reach.  With the cost of drug rehab averaging around $20,000 for 30 days of treatment, most Americans need help to afford the costs.  Fortunately, medical health insurance can provide relief from the high costs of drug treatment. 

Private Medical Heath Insurance and Drug Treatment

For most Americans with private medical insurance, or medical insurance not funded by the state, behavioral health benefits will pay for either the majority of drug rehab costs or in some cases, all of the fees.  Depending on the kind of medical insurance an individual has, treatment can be paid for through reimbursement or paid up front.  It is important for every individual to check into their own health insurance plan, but typically, HMO insurance plans do not pay for inpatient drug treatment. The best medical insurance plans to have for payment of inpatient drug treatment are PPO plans.  Although most insurance plans vary in many ways from person to person, having a PPO insurance plan will most often allow for payment on 30 days per calendar year of inpatient treatment anywhere in the country without stipulations on in or out of network facilities.

State Funded Medical Insurance and Drug Treatment

For the millions of Americans receiving help from federal, state and county resources in the form of Medicare and Medicaid medical insurance, the options for payment of drug treatment services are drastically reduced. This country has a plethora of state and county funded drug rehab programs that do accept Medicare and Medicaid, but because of the limited resources these government run facilities have, the quality of care generally suffers, as do the resources available for treatment and the experience of the staff. Since so many Americans do not have sufficient resources to carry private medical health insurance and are in need of assistance from the government, many of the drug rehab facilities that are government run and accept Medicare and Medicaid are overpopulated and have a constant waiting list for entry ranging anywhere from a few days to several months. 

Although these government run treatment programs are generally lower quality and suffer in many areas compared to private drug rehab centers, some help is always better than none at all.  Addiction never gets better on it’s own, and when dealing with a life and death situation like addiction, it is imperative to do everything possible to make drug rehab as accessible as possible, specifically through obtaining a good medical insurance plan that will be there to help when help is needed.

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