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Does insurance cover rehab?
Understanding Rehab Covered by Insurance
How Rehab Insurance Provides Free Treatment for Addicts
Table of Contents
Page Summary
Rehab for addiction can become quite costly when all of the treatments and special care are totaled up. Because it is expensive, a lot of people who are in serious need of help avoid attending rehab because they simply cannot afford it. It is important for anyone who is suffering, whether they be low-income or white-collar, that there is insurance that covers the cost of rehab.
Does Insurance Cover Rehab ?
A lot of people ask, how does insurance cover rehab? Well, in 2008, Congress passed a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act in order to ensure equal coverage of treatment for mental illness and addiction. Basically, if an insurance plan provides unlimited doctor visits for a condition such as diabetes, then they must offer unlimited doctor visits for a mental health condition. While the act required coverage, it did not cover all aspects of treatment.
Thankfully, in 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed to provide insurance coverage for all addiction treatments. The Affordable Care Act requires private insurance companies, as well as Medicaid and Medicare, to provide coverage for an umbrella of medically necessary services for people of all ages.
How Much Does Health Insurance Cover Rehab?
There are several different insurance options that offer coverage for those who are seeking treatment for drugs or alcohol addiction. Because healthcare insurance providers understand that addiction is truly a condition that can be treated, they now cover every aspect of addiction treatment beginning with the mental and physical assessments, all the way to the aftercare programs.
When potential rehab patients ask does health insurance cover rehab, healthcare insurance providers can proudly respond with a yes and a yes to ensuring that those potential patients have a chance at a successful recovery. Because of the Affordable Care Act, each and every person struggling with addiction has a chance to regain control of their lives and learn to live free from the dependence of stimuli.
For most potential patients, understanding what to expect during rehab can be quite a daunting task. With the help of their insurance providers, they can gain somewhat of an insight into the steps they will be taking during their stay at a rehab facility. The healthcare insurance provider can explain how they cover detoxification processes, therapeutic modalities and aftercare programs. Those three steps are the main focus of rehabilitation programs and must be covered.
Not only do healthcare insurance providers cover drug and alcohol rehab but they also cover mental and behavioral health conditions. For patients who are admitted due to mental or behavioral conditions, their insurance must cover all of the therapeutic modalities. Therapy is the best treatment for those types of conditions and significantly increase the chance of a successful recovery.
What Rehab Programs are Covered by Insurance?
As mentioned before, healthcare insurance providers cover drug and alcohol addiction as well as mental and behavioral health conditions. Drug, such as heroin, methamphetamines, prescription medications and ecstasy, addiction, as well as alcohol addiction requires a three step program. The program will begin with an assessment in order to diagnose the conditions the patients are suffering from. The assessment will also determine which detox process the patients will undergo. The detox process is the safe removal of all toxic substances from the body; during which, each patient will be under the close supervision of medical professionals.
It is important for healthcare insurance to cover inpatient rehab, as well as drug rehab and alcohol rehab. The process requires medical professional supervision, nutritional and medicinal support, extensive therapy sessions and an interactive aftercare program. Healthcare insurance providers are required to cover all aspects of treatment in order to help those who are struggling regain control of their lives.
According to the Affordable Care Act, the aspects of rehab it covers includes:
- Addiction evaluation
- Brief intervention
- Addiction treatment medication
- Clinic visits
- Alcohol and drug testing
- Home health visits
- Family counseling
- Anti-craving medication
Addiction and mental and behavioral health conditions are a serious epidemic that can and should be treated. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, each and every person suffering from any of those conditions has the ability to take care of themselves and get themselves back to normal.
How to Know if Health Insurance Covers Rehab
Potential patients can contact their healthcare insurance providers to find out what is covered and what facility they are able to attend. Those patients can also call the rehab facility they would like to attend in order to determine whether their insurance will work or not. Even though the Affordable Care Act requires coverage for all programs, some facilities may offer programs that do not fit in the normal rehabilitation category, such as holistic and experiential modalities.
Because some facilities offer different types of programs, potential patients should call the facility in order to determine which of their programs the healthcare insurance will cover. Each rehab facility has a friendly and knowledgeable pre-admissions staff that can help answer any questions the potential patients may have. During the pre-admissions process, they will ask questions regarding health history, family history and, of course, about the insurance the patients may have.
There are five types of insurance plans that provide different percentage of coverage, which are:
- Bronze plan: 60 percent expense coverage
- Silver plan: 70 percent expense coverage
- Gold plan: 80 percent expense coverage
- Platinum plan: 90 percent expense coverage
- Catastrophic plan: 60 percent expense coverage for those 30 years old and younger
For potential patients who have aspects of rehab that may not be covered by their insurance plan, most facilities will help locate nonprofit or charitable organizations that can help cover the additional expenses.
Each and every rehab facility understands the importance of finding help for addiction and behavioral or mental health conditions. These facilities, as well as healthcare insurance providers, do all they can to offer the best services for those who may be suffering.
