Rehab programs for addiction are designed to envelop people, surrounding them with a variety of tools they can use to keep destructive urges at bay. Counseling, skill building, medications and more might all be provided in a program like this, and during the course of treatment, the person might interact with many trained professionals, including counselors, doctors, nutritionists, social workers and therapists. All of these treatments take money to administer, and all of the workers need salaries to compensate them for their time. These fees can add up, and sometimes, the final bill might be more than the family can afford to add into the budget. Thankfully, there are finance options that can help families to cover the cost of care that they so desperately need.

Sliding Scales

Addiction treatment facility administrators are well aware of the hit a family’s bank account can take as a result of an addiction. They know some people with addictions have lost their jobs, and they know that some people deplete every dime they’ve saved through the years in order to keep an addiction alive. These administrators also know that addiction therapies work, and they want to provide that care to people who need it. As a result, many facilities offer their treatments on a sliding scale, allowing people to pay fees at a rate that fits within the family’s means. According to a study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, about 62 percent of all addiction facilities provide fees on a sliding scale like this.

Utilizing Loans

Some facilities partner with banks and credit unions, allowing them to offer loans to families who cannot afford to pay for care. People who are addicted may qualify for these loans on their own, but if their addictions have caused them to make poor financial decisions, they might need another family member to sign for the loan or take out the loan. It can be embarrassing to ask, but family members are often willing to help one another in this way.

Loans for health care expenses can also come from banks and credit unions, without the express help of the treatment facility. If the borrower has a good credit history and/or something valuable to use as collateral, financial institutions are often willing to take a risk, and the cost of those loans might be quite low.

Borrowing money is never easy, but it’s common for people to ask for help in order to pay for medical expenses. For example, a study in the journal Health Affairs found that 25.9 percent of households all around the world borrow money or sell their possessions in order to pay for health care. They may need just a little boost to help with unforeseen costs or they may need a large infusion of cash to pay for more extensive care, but it’s not unusual for people to need help with health care expenses.

Pooling Resources

Some financial resources owned by the family contain funds that can be used to pay for rehab, including:

• Retirement accounts
• IRAs
• Savings accounts
• Personal health care savings accounts

In some cases, people need to demonstrate a dire need in order to tap into these resources without fees. For example, a person might be able to pull out of a retirement account with paperwork that demonstrates that the addiction is a threat to life. Addiction treatment facilities might be able to supply this documentation, so people can get the funding they need.

Those who don’t have financial packages available, and who might not qualify for loans by banks or credit unions, might be able to ask friends or family members for loans in order to pay for care. These loans can utilize formal documents, detailing how much is borrowed and when it will be paid back, or they can be informal payments handled between friends. Taking out a loan like this spares the person the embarrassment of multiple rejections from banks, and it can help the person get the care needed for the addiction.

Help at Axis

We don’t want issues of cost to stand in the way of recovery, and we work hard to make sure that we outline our fees upfront and provide as much assistance to people in need as we possibly can. Please call us to find out more.