Paying for Outpatient Treatment

Paying for outpatient treatment might be difficult for you, especially during the early stages of your recovery. This is because substance abuse and addiction are expensive but so is treatment.

Often, the high cost of addiction comes from the expenses that you dispense when you need alcohol and drugs. Further, it might be difficult for you to maintain earning a steady stream of income because of your overt focus on substance abuse and addiction.

Even so, there are ways you can pay for your addiction treatment in an outpatient treatment program. You need to manage your personal finances responsibly and strategically so that you can be able to afford your recovery services.

Paying for Treatment

That said, there are several ways you can offset the cost of outpatient treatment. The most common and viable options that you can use include but are not always limited to the following:

• Finding financing plans
• Getting payment plans
• Insurance coverage
• Looking for free or low cost drug rehab programs
• Public assistance help
• Fundraising among your friends and family, or using websites like GoFundMe
• Searching for rehabs that charge sliding scale fees
• State funded options
• Using your personal savings and finances

a) Finding Financing Plans

Some banks and financial institutions can offer you a loan so that you can afford the cost of addiction treatment. However, most of them will require that you put up collateral before they can dispense the amount straight to the outpatient treatment center of your choice.

b) Getting Payment Plans

Alternatively, you can talk to your chosen outpatient treatment to find out if they could provide you with a payment plan. This way, you would not be require to offset the cost of your treatment in one go. Instead, you can make small payments - based on your level of income - as you continue receive treatment. You can also continue making these payments after you have achieved full sobriety and recovery.

c) Insurance Coverage

Many insurance companies offer coverage for the cost of addiction treatment especially if you choose to recover through an outpatient treatment program. If you have insurance, you should find out how much your carrier will cover, as well as the types of treatment that you can expect to receive from your plan.

d) Free or Low Cost Drug Rehabs

If you are from a low income background or you have been through hard times in the recent past, you may be able to qualify for free or low cost addiction treatment on an outpatient basis.

However, this will often require that you join a long waiting list because many people who are struggling with addiction apply for this type of free treatment. Even so, it might be ideal if you do not have any other options.

e) Public Assistance Help

Another way to afford outpatient treatment would be through a public assistance scheme. For instance, you could sign up for Medicaid and Medicare and have these public insurance programs pay for your treatment.

For you to qualify for this type of help, however, you need to meet some eligibility requirements. Check the Medicare and Medicaid websites for more information about this topic.

f) Fundraising

You can also offset the cost of your treatment at an outpatient facility by getting your family and friends to help you out financially. You can ask them to send the money directly to the facility so that they know that you are not diverting the funds to further your substance abuse.

Alternatively, you can sign up for a website like GoFundMe and get well-wishers to send donations. You can then use these donations to pay for your addiction treatment and recovery services.

g) Sliding Scale Fees

Alternatively, you may want to get a sliding scale fee when you sign up for outpatient treatment. Some programs offer these fees to ensure that more people are able to benefit from their addiction treatment services. To this end, you can search for these programs and ask if they can help you afford treatment through their sliding scale scheme.

h) State and Local Funded Treatment

A good way to receive treatment is by checking into an outpatient treatment that is run by your local or state government. These facilities can offer you the help you need to overcome your addiction free of charge or at relatively low cost.

i) Personal Finances and Savings

Finally, you can use your personal finances and savings to offset the cost of your outpatient treatment. While doing this, you first need to acknowledge the fact that finance management could help you afford the type of outpatient treatment that you need.

Financial Management for Outpatient Treatment

Some of the steps that you can take to ensure that you do not waver in this resolve include:

• List down all your debts
• List your assets and monthly bills
• Get a bank account so that you can use it to pay your bills, debts, and manage the remaining amount for addiction treatment

You also need to come up with solid financial goals, especially because you will most likely be using a large segment of your money to offset the cost of outpatient treatment. Some ways you can make this process easier on yourself include:

i) Save

Start by building up on your savings. You should consider creating an emergency fund of anywhere between $500 and $1000, or just about any amount that you can afford at the moment.

Your savings fund can help you prevent yourself from going into debt any further especially if you have to meet an emergency treatment due to your ongoing substance abuse.

You should only use this fund to pay for emergencies and not for anything else. This will ensure that you do not waste your money on expenses that you can take care of at a later date.

ii) Consider Payment Terms

You should also review all the payment terms that you have to meet while enrolled in an outpatient treatment program. You can do this by noting when all your payments are due on a calendar. If there are past due payments, take care of them before they catch up with you.

iii) Pay on Time

It would also help your case if you are always able to make every payment to your chosen outpatient treatment center in good time. This will allow you to reduce your outstanding debts as well as prevent you from incurring any additional ones.

Overall, there are many ways to pay for outpatient treatment. As long as you are diligent and you keep searching, you should find a way out to help yourself afford addiction recovery on an outpatient basis.

CITATIONS

http://www.buffalo.edu/cria/treatment/ats.html

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/frequently-asked-questions/drug-addiction-treatment-worth-its-cost

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/substance_abuse_center/index.html

https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/res-vatreatmentprograms.asp

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28253540

https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/health-care/outpatient-hospital-services-medicare-incentives-value-quality.html