The Cost of Addiction Treatment

When considering the cost of addiction treatment, people usually have two perceptions — one is of very expensive inpatient treatment in beautiful facilities that the rich and famous utilize, and the other perception is of a state funded facility that subsidizes the cost of addiction treatment. This two tiered view of addiction treatment, one for the poor and one for the rich, is not accurate.

Many state addiction treatment facilities utilize private companies to provide treatment, and many other private treatment facilities, like ours, NewDay Counseling, don’t, as of today, receive any state funds. Just because a private addiction treatment facility is funded through private pay and insurance doesn’t mean that the services they offer are too expensive for the average person. With new laws regarding insurance, all insurance companies have to provide coverage for addiction treatment, even though deductibles might be high. Even if a person hasn’t bought insurance, or the deductibles are high with the insurance they buy, the cost of addiction treatment is still not too high for the average person.

Let’s break it down.  First, let’s establish the fact that addiction treatment has value. Some might think treatment doesn’t work, but they obviously haven’t done any research — addiction can and does work for a good percentage of people who go into treatment. Success in treatment depends on many factors — quality, knowledge, experience, best practices, etc. But, because there’s the pervasive idea that addiction treatment should be free or mostly subsidized, addiction treatment is de-valued. It’s odd that a middle class couple will spend around $5000 on a big screen TV, a gaming computer and a nice sound-system setup for their favorite music, yet when faced with spending $5000 on addiction treatment, the cost is too high.

For around $5000 a person can pay for quality treatment, and the full amount is usually not demanded upfront — like the entertainment equipment, addiction treatment can be paid over time. I don’t know why the idea exists that addiction treatment should be an act of charity, but the idea is common. I told a relative about NewDay Counseling, and he wanted to know how we were funded — through a church? Through the state? No, I told him — we are private — people pay for treatment as they would other medical/treatment services. His idea of a drug addict was the skid row bum variety, the junkie in the alley, so he couldn’t fathom how an addict could afford treatment.

State funds are available for those who’ve lost it all and have nothing, but addicts exist at every socio-economic level. $5000 can pay for quality treatment, and if the person is serious about recovery, they can receive once a week aftercare group therapy, post-treatment, for as long as they need it at no extra cost – plus, they can start attending AA or NA at no cost for long term recovery support. $5000 is not much when you consider the quality of life in recovery compared to the quality of life in active addiction. Surely our lives, our family, our friendships, our mental health, our work performance and our physical condition, all negatively affected by addiction, are worth at least as much as our electronic gadgets. The cost of addiction treatment is not high at all, especially when contrasted to the cost of addiction.