What to do if you cannot pay for drug rehab? Financing, subsidies, public rehab...

It's unfortunate that all of us are not able to access the best of medical care, and when we or a family member struggles with addiction and substance abuse, it can be hard knowing that there are great drug rehabs available locally, but at a price that is simply out of reach to any of us without private insurance coverage.

If you are unable to pay upfront for your drug rehab care, you are left with three options, and they are all possibilities.

Three options you have

1…Ask for a reduced cost stay

This sounds unbelievable, but the truth is that many if not most better private drug and alcohol rehabs have some form of program available for lower income participants. This can be a mutually beneficial program of subsidizing care, and the rehabs can deduct their charitable care as a tax write off. You can sometimes access very high quality and otherwise prohibitively expensive drug rehab facilities, at a price you may be able to afford.

It will probably still require of you a significant investment, but they may work with you to come to terms acceptable to all.

Additionally, although private drug and alcohol rehabs do exist to make a profit, most people working in these drug rehabs are compassioned and committed professionals who truly want to help you, and they don’t like turning away people in need any more that you like not getting help you deserve.

It won’t always work, but it worthy of an attempt.

2…Ask about financing

There are enough people without insurance coverage (and without tens of thousands of dollars at the ready!) that rehabs have had to, by necessity, arrange for credit and financing options for payment. You may never hope to be able to afford the best of private facilities (whose admissions can range upwards from $20 000 per month) but you could certainly obtain credit for a car of that amount; and if you can get credit for that--- you can get credit for rehab.

You are ultimately responsible for the full price of the rehab, but working together with staff at the facility, you may be able to negotiate a payment schedule satisfactory to all.

No one wants to be left with monthly payments for years after a rehab stay, but if it works, and if you can achieve sobriety, the savings in drugs or alcohol, in reduced health care costs and in increased workplace productivity, should more than pay for your monthly payments for treatment.

No one wants to pay for care, but addiction is a disease much like any disease, and it can kill you in the end if left untreated. You wouldn’t hesitate to pay for cancer treatment, and you shouldn’t defer addiction treatment either. You don’t have so many years in this earth that you can afford to waste many of them with a life of addiction.

3…Look into public rehab programs

There are hundreds of governmentally funded programs for drug and alcohol abuse, and some of them offer an excellent standard of care, and many of them will offer free treatment to those unable to pay for rehab.

Unfortunately, because the available treatment spots never meets demand for care, there is often a waiting list, you may not be able to stay as long as you need, and you won't get as much individual attention and therapy.

These drug rehabs do the best they can with the resources at their disposal, but these resources are inevitably stretched very thinly. Private is not always better, and there are some excellent public options, but in general, public rehabs have to treat more people each year than they can treat with an optimal level of care.

If you decide that a public rehab is your best option, you should contact your local health clinic about information on how to get onto a waiting list immediately.

Anything is better than nothing

It is well worth it to spend a little time and do some research into the best available local drug and alcohol rehab facilities. If you find a drug or alcohol rehab that would be perfect, but is slightly (or even a lot) too expensive, do not hesitate to ask about a reduced cost of stay and to ask about financing. They want to make it possible for you to enter just as you want to access great quality care.

If you simply cannot afford private inpatient care, get on a waiting list today for the next available local governmentally run program of rehab.