“We need affordable treatment. It does not need to be ran by Big Pharma or pushed by drug company manufacturers,” Lori Moore with Not One More Alabama, a support group for families affected by addiction, told WZDX News. “The studies show that 90 days minimum is how long they need to be in treatment the first time.”
But most insurances do not consider 90 days ‘short-term’ and will not cover treatment.
“They get 12 to 14 days of treatment,” substance abuse specialist Keith Watts told WZDX News. “We try to supplement that with outpatient treatment. It’s not enough. You’re talking about people, a lifetime of bad ideas, bad thinking, behaviors around substance abuse. You can’t fix it in two weeks.”
Ms. Moore talks to parents all the time who are cannot afford addiction treatment, which is usually a 12-step program for patients seeking long-term recovery.
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