Having health insurance coverage for drug and alcohol rehab is a benefit that many patients have today. This type of coverage wasn’t available until recent changes in the health insurance industry. In fact, you may have drug rehab health insurance right now, whether you realize it or not. If you have a health insurance policy and need addiction treatment, the chances are good that detox and rehab are at least partially covered through your insurance.
Specifics of Drug Rehab Health Insurance Coverage
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 and other legislation of recent years have enabled many patients to gain the addiction treatment they need through previously unavailable drug rehab health insurance. This drug rehab health insurance is written into many healthcare policies or can be obtained under a new insurance policy before you enter treatment. No longer will insurance companies deny patients coverage based upon “pre-existing health conditions,” as they once did.
Health insurance policy that includes coverage for detox and rehab will include requirements that must be met for the policy to pay for treatment. Each individual policy provides details about services that are covered, when payments will be made and how much coverage is allowed for medical care.
Common requirements for drug rehab health insurance support include:
- The patient’s addiction treatment must be specified as a medical necessity, generally through an addiction assessment before entering the treatment facility
- Significant health improvement for the individual patient and absence of harm must be expected of the desired treatment
- Services provided must be specifically oriented to treatment of addiction and co-occurring conditions
- There may be limitations to how much the policy will pay
- Out-of-pocket deductibles and other costs to be paid for by the individual patient may apply
If you have used your drug rehab health insurance allowances for detox or rehab services in the past, you may not have additional benefits or coverage may be limited. This will depend upon your policy and how it was used for the past treatment.
There may also be rules of where you can get treatment and what type of programs are permitted. The following factors may influence your insurance company’s decisions:
- Patient need for treatment
- Medical necessity with required progress updates and reevaluations
- Care gained through the least restrictive environment available, meaning through outpatient or intensive outpatient services, if available
- Where you live
- Whether the policy’s benefits have been used for addiction treatment in the past
Using Your Drug Rehab Health Insurance for Detox Services
When you need to detox from your addiction, having drug rehab health insurance is an enormous benefit. Your policy may enable you to become physically clean of your long-abused substances without spending any of your own money. When you have insurance, you can soon be feeling great again and ready to tackle the underlying issues of addiction that led to physical dependence.
Remember that your insurance company, like all others, is a business. They need to make a profit. To do so, these companies need their policyholders to remain healthy and not require medical services. As long as you have an addiction, your insurance company knows that you will need ongoing, expensive medical care.
When you’re ready to detox and get rehab help, your insurance company also knows that you can regain good health and cost them less through treatments. This is why these companies are more eager today to provide for detox and rehab, than they had been in the past. Simply put, your recovery means you’re less of a financial liability to your insurance provider.
For detox services, it’s usually fairly easy to establish medical need for patients ready to end their addiction. Insurance companies know that having medical detox services is far safer for patients than going “cold turkey” or using another type of program that may lead to secondary addictions. The environment of a medical detox program is also attractive to these insurers, as it keeps patients safe from relapse. Detox is your first step into recovery and that’s precisely what your health insurance company wants.
Serenity House Detox & Recovery of Florida Verifies Health Insurance Policies
Serenity House Detox & Recovery, with two locations in Fort Lauderdale and Jupiter, provides Joint Commission-accredited medical detox programs. Each of Serenity House Detox & Recovery’s facilities provide a cozy atmosphere where professional addiction treatment staff members ensure your detox is as safe and comfortable as possible.
Call Serenity House Detox & Recovery now at 866.294.5306 for more information about programs and to verify your insurance policy. By making this call, the doors open to your new life in recovery.