Cost is a common barrier to addiction treatment. If you suffer from drug or alcohol addiction, it’s important to know that the challenges of paying for treatment shouldn’t keep you from receiving it. There are actually many different ways to pay for rehab. If you’re able, most rehab centers will accept debit or credit card payments. Although cash payments are certainly accepted in some instances, most centers generally prefer debit or credit card payments to cash given the often significant sums of money being collected.
However, before you commit to covering treatment entirely out-of-pocket, it’s always a good idea to explore some of the alternative payment options. If you have private-pay health insurance, your insurer will likely cover some or all of your treatment costs. Drug and alcohol addiction are currently recognized as mental health disorders. Not only are these considered treatable issues, but it is also in the best interests of health insurers to contribute. Helping people successfully manage substance use disorder or alcohol use disorder in a long-term fashion can be infinitely cheaper than covering the costs of treating the many chronic health issues they’re known to create. Moreover, with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies can no longer penalize applicants for having known or existing medical conditions when binding their policies. Thus, even if you have a known addiction and have yet to obtain private-pay coverage, you can still find and bind a suitable plan, and you can still expect this plan to cover some or all of your addiction treatment costs.
Different Ways to Pay for Addiction Treatment
Whether you have private-pay health insurance or health insurance that’s government-subsidized, your plan may help cover the costs of inpatient or outpatient addiction treatment, along with any necessary detox services. When contacting individual treatment centers, it’s important to have the name of your health insurance company and your plan type on hand. Depending upon the type of coverage you have, you might be limited to receiving services from an in-network facility or provider. Each rehab center will have a list of accepted insurances on file.
Moreover, most intake specialists at these locations can give you a better understanding of which portions of your treatment will be covered, and which must be paid out-of-pocket. It’s also a good idea to call your health insurance company directly. Your insurer can give you a list of in-network providers and facilities, and a detailed breakdown of what your coverage can and cannot be used for. Even with insurance, there are certain fees that you will probably have to cover on your own. For instance, most health insurance companies require all policyholders to pay their:
- Plan deductibles
- Co-payments
- Prescription fees
on their own. For these smaller, miscellaneous charges, credit card, debit card, and cash payments are often accepted. When the provisions made by a health insurance plan aren’t sufficient, it’s also possible to look for scholarship opportunities. These are contributions that charitable organizations make to keep addiction treatment accessible for those who need it. When speaking with intake specialists at any rehab center of interest, you can request information about all current scholarship opportunities that are available.
If waitlists exist for this funding, you can also ask to be placed on them. Some people choose to use crowd-sourcing to cover most if not all of their addiction treatment costs. Crowd-sourcing is a largely self-managed fundraising effort that can be hosted entirely online. There are even many companies that are willing to make contributions towards treatment costs for their employees. If you’re having a hard time coming up with sufficient money for covering your full treatment costs, you can always speak with your employer’s human resources department.
Many addiction treatment centers additionally offer manageable payment plans. With these, any fees that aren’t covered by a patient’s health insurance, scholarship monies, or other outside sources can be broken down into several modest payments. When making a payment plan, you may need to provide debit or credit card information upfront. It is additionally important to note that most treatment centers require full payment of all treatment costs either before services have ended or before treatments are rendered. If you’re ready to commit to addiction treatment and want to know more about covering the costs of professional rehab, we’re here to answer your questions. Call 833-610-1174 now. Our counselors are always standing by.