If you thought drug and alcohol addiction didn’t affect you. Think again. There is a huge volume of data relating substance abuse and associated costs to the average american taxpayer. In fact, an exerpt from a recent Join Together online newsletter regarding this matter reads:
“Two decades ago, the cost of providing addiction treatment was split about evenly between private and public payers, but today taxpayers foot the bill for more than three-quarters of all treatment, according to a new report.A study funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that 77.4 percent of treatment in 2003 was paid for by Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal, state and local sources, up from 50.4 percent in 1986. Meanwhile, the private sector’s share of the treatment cost burden slipped from 49.6 percent in 1986 to 22.6 percent in 2003.
Private insurers, who paid 29.6 percent of treatment costs in 1986, were only paying 10.1 percent by 2003. Total dollars paid by private insurers for addiction treatment fell from $2.8 billion to $2.1 billion during the same time period.
Fewer patients were paying for treatment out of their own pocket, as well: in 1986, 13.8 percent of treatment was self-paid, but that fell to 8 percent in 2003.”
While insurance companies are generally regarded as slimy, money-hungry, profit-pushing penny-pinchers, they don’t carry all the blame. A huge problem lies in our social health care system, in that drug rehab programs don’t have to prove that they work in order to receive our tax dollars to treat people who cannot or will not pay (with or without the help of family members).
Here’s something that may be news to some people – treatment costs money! It has to be paid somehow. So, if you’re not paying for it, and your insurance isn’t paying for it, then we’re all paying for it for others!