Paying for Inpatient Treatment

Paying for inpatient treatment can seem daunting. This is because inpatient drug rehab is typically the most costly form of care for a substance use disorder. However, this should not keep you from receiving the rehabilitation services that you need to overcome your addiction.

Additionally, there are several ways you pay for your treatment. Some of these options include insurance and using your personal finances and savings. However, you can also get help with your payments, as you will find out in this guide.

Insurance for Inpatient Drug Rehab

In case your employer provides medical insurance, it might have benefits for inpatient treatment for a substance use disorder. In such a situation, you can use your medical insurance to offset the cost of your treatment for mental health issues and addiction.

You might also be enrolled in a private or group insurance plan. In this case, you might be able to use this plan to deal with the costs that you incur when you are in an inpatient treatment center. The plan might also be able to cover behavioral health treatments like psychotherapy and counseling.

However, you should check if the drug rehabilitation facility that you wish to enroll in works with your insurance provider, or that they are in your provider's network. This could potentially increase the level of coverage that you are entitled to.

Some of most popular insurance providers within the country include:

• Aetna
• AmeriHealth
• Beacon/ValueOptions
• BlueCross BlueShield
• Cigna
• First Health
• Humana
• Magnacare
• Medical Mutual
• Scott and White
• UMR
• UnitedHealthcare
• WebTPA

Even though your insurance provider may offer benefits for mental health and substance use disorder treatment, you might still have to deal with some costs out of pocket. The level of coverage that you receive will also vary depending on the plan that you chose.

This is why it might be difficult to estimate the exact amount of money you would have to dispense out of pocket. However, this might be easier if you have already verified your benefits.

You can, for instance, get in touch with the inpatient treatment center that you are interested in joining to see if they can verify your insurance information for you. To do this, you should provide them with the following information:

• The name of the insurance provider you are working with
• The telephone number kept by your insurance company
• Your date of birth
• Your member identity (ID) number

The drug rehab facility will use this information to complete your insurance verification. The entire process should take a couple of minutes and will be completely confidential. It might also help you understand the level of coverage that you can expect from your insurance provider.

Paying Without Insurance

However, you might also be in a situation where you do not have any insurance coverage. In this case, you would have to find other ways to offset the cost of your treatment in an inpatient treatment program.

Some of the ways you can pay for your rehabilitation services without relying on your insurance provider include:

1. Employee Assistance Programs

The organization you work for might have an EAP - employee assistance program - in place. This confidential program can help you manage all the work related and personal problems that you might have. These problems include substance abuse treatment, grief, family issues, child care, and financial issues.

You can activate the help from the EAP at no cost to you. In some cases, you might even be able to use the Employee Assisted Program to get help for some members of your family if they are covered under your medical insurance.

You may be able to find out if you can access the benefits of an EAP by talking to the human resources manager at your organization or by reviewing the benefits manual provided by the company.

2. Healthcare Loans

Some inpatient treatment centers can help you get healthcare loans to offset the cost of your rehabilitation services. Your ability to get such a loan will vary based on your particular financial and credit circumstances. Once approved, the loan can be useful in taking care of the cost of your treatment.

3. Paying Out of Pocket

Finally, you can pay for inpatient treatment out of pocket. In this case, you would be required to use your personal finances, or get a family member to help you deal with this cost.

CITATIONS

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/frequently-asked-questions/drug-addiction-treatment-worth-its-cost

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2012.0332

https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/

https://www.mentalhealth.gov/get-help/health-insurance/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1360883/

https://www.opm.gov/faqs/QA.aspx?fid=4313c618-a96e-4c8e-b078-1f76912a10d9&pid=2c2b1e5b-6ff1-4940-b478-34039a1e1174