The Affordable Care Act (ACA), which went into effect on October 1, may bring some hope to people who want treatment for alcohol and substance abuse.
Otherwise known as Obamacare, the new law defines drug and alcohol abuse as “chronic diseases.” This classification requires insurance plans to cover drug and alcohol treatment and allows healthcare providers to bill for addiction screenings and treatment services.
The definition was prompted in part by the high national costs of health care related to addiction and substance abuse. As shown in this infographic, in 2012 over 1 million hospitalizations and 4 million ER visits were related to alcohol consumption. In total, expenses due to alcohol and drug misuse have reached $120 billion annually across our health-care system. Providing affordable and wider access to treatment may reduce expensive ER and hospital visits, and encourage people to seek treatment sooner.
The California Health Report estimates that 40 million people could enter drug and alcohol treatment because of this change. And in addition to requiring insurance plans to cover treatment, the California Health Report notes that the ACA “encourages medical providers to screen for problem drinking and drug use while allowing them to bill for doing it.”
This summer the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) issued a recommendation that health-care providers should “screen all adults 18 and older for alcohol misuse and provide individuals engaged in risky or hazardous drinking with brief behavioral counseling to reduce alcohol misuse.” The belief is that screening patients for unsafe behavior in a primary care setting will allow doctors to spot issues and help patients address alcohol misuse earlier.
Some hope that by making drug and alcohol treatment more readily available, and by encouraging doctors to actively screen for problems, addiction and substance misuse will eventually be seen more as health issues rather than as moral failings.
What do you think?
