A vast number of individuals fail to take up drug treatment because they are unable to raise the money that is required to enroll in such a program. This paper will analyze the cost issues that feature during drug treatment. The research for this paper will focus on information from online sources including the Lion Rock Recovery Centre’s website, the National Institute on Drug, information from treatment experts, and other online materials. The research methodology will be in form of a literature review. A conclusion will be made based on this literature review.
According to the Lion Rock Recovery Centre’s website, drug treatment is a long and expensive process (Lion Rock Recovery, 2014). Consequently, insurance companies have stepped in and started offering coverage for alcohol and drug treatment to individuals. Furthermore, statistics indicate that the cost of drug and alcohol treatment has risen from an average cost of about $1,400 to the current $10,000 (Volkow, 2014). Some mid-level rehabilitation facilities charge their patients an average of $1,000 per day. This cost is out of reach for a majority of the individuals who seek drug and alcohol abuse treatment. Furthermore, it is common for drug and alcohol abuse treatment facilities to ‘exploit’ the desperation of their potential clients by offering them unrealistic recovery statistics. For example, the transformation treatment center strategically avoids offering patients any statistics that are related to recovery on its website’s homepage (Transformations Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center, 2015). All these three materials indicate that the cost of drug and alcohol abuse treatment is on the rise. However, the three authorities do not agree about how this trend impacts drug and alcohol treatment. The Lion Rock Recovery (2014) sees the need to engage insurance companies in this issue whilst standardizing the treatment methods with the view of making them cheaper. This notion differs from the Transformations Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center (2015), which sees the need for streamlining the treatment methods with the view of improving their efficiency and without paying attention to the issue of cost. However, Volkow (2014) focuses entirely on cost issues and how they relate to the pros and cons of all the available treatment methods.
The Lion Rock Recovery can be faulted for ignoring the big impact of drug and alcohol abuse treatment by taking this issue lightly. For instance, the institution offers remote sessions to its clients, thereby disregarding face-to-face contact among individuals. On the other hand, the Transformations Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center might be faulted for being a money-hungry entity that seeks to capitalize from drug and alcohol addiction. Volkow can be cited as having an over-enthusiastic scholarly attitude towards a medical issue. This author tends to ignore the social and economic factors of drug and alcohol treatment. Lion Rock Recovery’s arguments produce the most accurate views about the current trends of drug and alcohol abuse treatment. This organization recognizes the need for driving down the cost of treatment whilst improving its quality. Volkow’s views are also quite important to the issue of treatment costs because the author recognizes the need for having many treatment options.
Most individuals do not have the money or resources that can cover their drug and alcohol abuse treatment. The Lion Rock Center outlines several treatment options for clients but all of them are substantially expensive. Interestingly, even the most expensive treatment options do not have guaranteed results. Clients should be careful when they consider drug and alcohol treatment as a one-time cost due to the high rates of relapse that are associated with these conditions.
References
Bohlin, E. (2014). Drug treatment centers, counseling, and alcoholics anonymous: The pros and cons. Web.
Deed, A. (2015). The pros and cons of different addiction treatment options. Addiction Treatment Options-Pros and Cons. Web.
Lion Rock Recovery, (2014). Programs. Web.
Transformations Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center. (2015). Recovery takes strength, courage, support, and guidance. Web.
Volkow, N.D. (2014). National institute on drug abuse the science of drug abuse and addiction. Web.