When it comes time for you to seek help for your drug or alcohol addiction, you have to be committed to getting that help. To be successful, you will need to focus on the task at hand. What you don’t want to do is let anything get in your way when you finally summon the motivation to go to rehab.
As you are making plans, you will probably start to realize there are hurdles you need to clear. The first one will be finding a rehab that has available space for you. When you find a facility, your next concern will likely go towards figuring out how to pay for treatment. To be clear, residential treatment can get a little expensive. While the price ranges might vary from one place to another, you can expect to pay at a minimum of about $5,000 a month for residential treatment.
If for any reason residential treatment would not work for you, you can always look for an outpatient treatment option. That would run you about $3,000 a month. Yes, that is expensive. However, you might be in luck. If you have healthcare insurance through your employer or as an individual, you will be happy to learn that insurance providers are required by law to cover at least a good portion of addiction treatment costs. It was in 2009 that Congress passed the Affordable Care Act.
Under that law, insurance companies are required to cover addiction treatment costs in the same way they would cover other medical treatments. Also, insurance companies are not permitted to discriminate because of preexisting conditions. That is a big deal because insurance could always argue that a person’s addiction was preexisting.
What the Affordable Care Act doesn’t do is dictate the extent of coverage that insurance companies must provide. According to the law, they must cover the following:
- Detox program costs
- Prescription medications related to treatment
- Basic residential treatment costs (excludes luxury treatment facilities and alternative treatment methods)
- Outpatient treatment costs
By the way, a lot of insurance companies are willing to cover 100% of outpatient treatment. They do this willingly to motivate customers to choose the less expensive form of treatment. Otherwise, you can expect your insurance company to cover your addiction treatment costs in the same proportions they would cover treatment for say pneumonia. If you don’t have healthcare insurance, you would need to pay out of pocket. In the next section, we will address alternative payment options.
Alternative Ways to Pay for Rehab
Assuming you don’t have deep pockets, paying for treatment could be a real challenge. Let’s discuss your options. If you have savings, this would be the time to tap into it. You can always start saving again, but you are a worthy cause. If you have an employer-sponsored 401K plan, the IRS does permit you to borrow from yourself for medical emergencies. Addiction treatment does qualify as an emergency.
If you don’t have enough in savings, borrowing would be your next option. You can start by seeking financial assistance from family and friends. If they will help you, you might be able to avoid paying interest. If you cant get help from friends and relatives, using your credit cards or securing a personal loan would be the next choice. Taking on debt for treatment makes sense because it buys you time to pay for treatment.
If you have no savings and nowhere from which to borrow, you should talk to the rehab facilities. You might find out that some of them offer grants and scholarships to needy clients. Some of the grants might be endowments left by grateful recovering addicts who used to be where you are today. There is one other alternative you might want to consider.
Some of the larger rehab facilities offer in-house financing. They cover the cost of your treatment and let you start making payments after treatment is over. Best of all, the interest rates are very affordable. If you have insurance, the cost of rehab should not be something that stands in your way of getting help. We want you to know you can count on us to provide you with the best care possible. All you have to do when you are ready to seek help is give us a call. You can reach out to one of our representatives by calling 833-820-2922. We have someone manning the phones around the clock for your convenience.