Insurance Coverage for Outpatient Treatment

Tens of thousands of drug and alcohol rehab facilities across the United States provide outpatient treatment. Most of these facilities do accept insurance payment for substance abuse treatment. However, not every policy will provide you with full coverage.

To this end, it is important that you talk to the intake professionals at the outpatient treatment facility that you choose. By so doing, you will be able to get information about the amount of coverage that you can expect to receive if you will be paying with insurance.

Understanding Outpatient Addiction Treatment

Outpatient treatment is a form of addiction recovery service that will require you to travel to the rehabilitation facility several times every week to receive treatment for your substance use disorder. Once your treatment is completed for the day, you can go back home or check into a sober living or transitional living facility. This effectively means that you would not be required to live or stay overnight at the treatment centre.

This type of addiction treatment is recommended if you:

• Are not struggling with co-occurring mental health or medical disorders over and above your addiction
• Have a relatively low risk of relapse, but the risk is still high enough for you to benefit from some form of addiction treatment
• Have a stable support system from your family, friends, and other loved ones - and this system can reduce your risk of relapse even further
• Have already been through an inpatient or residential treatment program but still need the additional support that is provided through outpatient treatment
• Have been diagnosed with a relatively mild to moderate substance use disorder that has not been lasting long enough for you to need inpatient treatment
• Have responsibilities and obligations to meet at work, home, or school

When you are enrolled in an outpatient treatment program, there are some services that you can expect to receive. Typically, the treatment experience in such a program might include the following:

• Diet education
• Employment assistance
• Evaluation for the existence of any mental health disorders
• Exercise education
• Family counseling
• Ongoing therapy
• Outpatient medical detox services to help you deal with your drug cravings and withdrawal symptoms, if any develop over the course of your treatment
• Routine screenings to check if you have been taking drugs or drinking alcohol
• Skills groups
• Support group participation

Paying for Outpatient Treatment

Even though outpatient treatment tends to cost much less than inpatient treatment, it is still important that you plan on how you are going to take care of the costs that you incur while overcoming your substance use disorder. This is essential because your treatment costs might go over and above your original budget.

There are several ways to pay for your addiction treatment in such a program, and one of the best ways is through insurance. Under insurance, you might also be able to use public, group, and private insurance.

Public insurance comes through the Affordable Care Act that created Medicare and Medicaid. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, these public insurance options can help you offset the cost of addiction treatment in an outpatient drug rehab center.

Most private insurance plans will often require that you make higher monthly premiums. However, you will typically find that these plans could help you cover most or all of your addiction treatment if you choose outpatient treatment.

This is because many insurance companies are more willing to take care of the cost of outpatient treatment than they are to offer coverage for inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation services.

When you choose inpatient treatment, your costs could escalate because you would be living at the drug rehab center. This means that you will receive care around the clock, as well as meals and accommodation. This is not the case with outpatient treatment, where you can go back home in the evening after your treatment, and only check into the recovery facility for several hours every week.

As long as your insurance company offers coverage for addiction recovery services, you should be able to use your play to pay for the cost of your outpatient treatment. However, you still need to confirm with the insurance provider, as well as with the outpatient rehab center that you have chosen to find out how much of your treatment will be covered.

Getting Help

In the long run, the cost of outpatient treatment will be much less than the cost of your ongoing substance abuse and addiction. If you are able to use your insurance to offset the cost of such treatment, it is encouraged that you do so. This is even though your insurance might not always take care of the full cost of your treatment.

CITATIONS

https://www.baldwinresearch.com/addiction-treatment-insurance-coverage.cfm

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/drug-addiction-treatment-in-united-states/types-treatment-programs

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/drug-addiction-treatment-in-united-states/types-treatment-programs

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.11.3.137

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK232963/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK424848/