Shehan Karunaratne | Posted on September 24, 2018 |

Last Updated on October 6, 2021

How to Pay for Drug Rehab With and Without Insurance

How to Pay for Drug Rehab With and Without Insurance

Paying for drug and alcohol rehab may seem daunting at first, but you shouldn’t let that keep you from getting the help you need. At Nova Recovery Center, we strive to make our addiction treatment as affordable as possible. On the same note, we also realize that every client’s circumstances are different. For this reason, we provide our clients with a wide range of payment options so that money doesn’t have to be a barrier to obtaining high-quality treatment.

If you would like to enroll yourself or a loved one in immediate inpatient or outpatient treatment at our drug rehab center, there are many ways to pay for treatment. If you are uninsured, you may be wondering how you will pay for rehab without insurance. In this blog, we’ll provide details on how to cover the cost of drug and alcohol rehab, with and without insurance.

Who Pays for Rehab?

Most often, the individual who is receiving the treatment pays for their rehab. This may include the total cost of treatment or any copays or deductibles that are not covered by insurance. In other instances, a spouse or parent(s) may pay for the substance abuse treatment. If a person is sentenced to court-ordered addiction treatment, he or she is still personally responsible to pay for rehab.

How to Pay for Drug Rehab With Insurance

If you have medical insurance through your employer, it most likely provides benefits for substance use disorders and mental health services. If you’re unsure, please review the coverage summary provided by your insurance company. This document will review your benefits in detail.1 If you still have questions about your coverage, please contact your insurance company for more information.

If you enrolled in a plan offered on the Health Insurance Marketplace, your plan is required to cover essential health benefits, which include mental health and substance use disorder services. This also includes behavioral health treatment such as counseling and psychotherapy.2

Nova Recovery Center works with several private insurance companies in the United States. We may accept insurance from the following companies:

Please note that your eligibility to use insurance benefits to pay for treatment will vary based on your individual policy. Call (888) 343-1967 for a fast and free benefits verification today.

Although your insurance company may provide benefits for substance abuse disorder and mental health treatment, your out-of-pocket costs will vary depending on your coverage. It’s impossible to say exactly how much you will be required to pay out-of-pocket without first verifying your benefits.

To verify your insurance benefits with Nova Recovery Center, you will need to have the following information on hand when you call our admissions center:

Company name of your insurance provider
Your member ID number
Your date of birth
Your insurance company’s telephone number (this can be found on the back of your insurance card)

Once we gather this information from you, we can complete the insurance verification over the phone with you, or if you’d prefer, we can call you back. The entire process only takes a few minutes and is completely confidential. This means no one else will be alerted that you are verifying your benefits for substance abuse treatment.

Can I Go to Drug Rehab With No Insurance?

Yes, there are many ways to access high-quality addiction treatment without insurance, such as financing, employee assistance programs, fundraising, and more.

Many people who are searching for a rehab for uninsured individuals default to choosing no-cost alcohol rehab centers or low-cost state-funded detox and rehab programs. While these programs serve a great purpose, they are often under-staffed, are too full, or have extensive waiting lists that could leave addicted individuals in limbo for weeks or months.

Many state-funded addiction treatment centers also have rigid admission requirements, such as:

Proof of legal residence or citizenship in the U.S.
Proof of residence in the state that is funding the program
Proof of inability to afford other treatment options

Getting public financial assistance for drug rehab programs is not always possible but there are still several viable options for addicts and alcoholics without insurance. Keep in mind that these solutions are not effortless and they will require a certain amount of work from the person seeking treatment to ensure that they are successful.

How to Pay for Drug Rehab Without Insurance

If you do not have health insurance, there are still several additional options that may help you cover the cost of immediate drug rehab without insurance. Here are a few different drug and alcohol rehab payment options that may help you get the treatment you need.

Explore Your Employee Assistance Program

Most employers offer an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to their employees. This is a confidential program designed to help you manage personal and/or work-related problems issues such as financial problems, child care, family issues, grief, and drug and alcohol abuse.3

Employee Assisted Programs are most often provided at no cost to the employee and your EAP benefits may even extend to other members of your family that are covered by your medical insurance, such as a child or a spouse. To find out if you have access to an Employee Assistance Program, please review your company’s benefits manual and speak to your human resources manager.

If your employer does offer an EAP, please contact our admissions team today so we can help you further explore these benefit options.

Finance the Cost of Rehab

Nova Recovery Center can also help you secure a third-party healthcare loan to help pay for drug rehab. It’s important to remember that your ability to obtain a private loan may vary based on your credit and financial circumstances, but if approved, a loan may help you cover the cost of drug rehab by allowing you to pay the total cost over a greater period of time with monthly financed installments.

Healthcare loans typically offer lower interest rates than traditional loans and are flexible, so you don’t have to worry about a portion of the treatment cost not being covered. However, you may also choose to contact the financial institution you use for your daily banking needs and inquire about loan options.

Nova Recovery Center works with American HealthCare Lending and FreedomLoans to secure third-party healthcare loans for clients seeking a different payment option. Applications can be completed online.

Financing the cost of addiction treatment with a healthcare loan is an excellent option for people who don’t have health insurance. It allows for a flexible rehab payment plan that can be repaid with affordable monthly payments, so you can stop stressing about paying for rehab and focus on your recovery instead.

Use HSA Funds

If you have a Health Savings Account (HSA), your HSA funds may be eligible to use for certain aspects of drug rehab, such as lodging, meals, and transportation to 12-step meetings, if those things are a part of your addiction treatment program. This can be a helpful way to reduce your out-of-pocket expenses, especially if you have a high-deductible health insurance plan or you don’t have health insurance.

Apply for a Low-Interest Rate Credit Card

Although going into debt isn’t an attractive option, it can be an effective way to pay for drug rehab if you have no other choice. The key is to apply for credit cards with a low-interest rate or no interest rate. That way, if you have to carry a balance from month to month, you won’t be hit with interest fees that make it impossible to ever pay off.

If you choose to go this route, make sure to pay off the balance as you can. You may also want to consider applying for a low-interest rate credit card with a credit company that specializes in healthcare financing. Many of these types of companies offer flexible loans and some even offer interest-free financing.

Raise the Funds

If poor credit or other obstacles are preventing you from paying for rehab with financing options, crowdfunding is another efficient way to raise funds for any cause, including drug rehab for yourself or a loved one. You can use several different websites to create a campaign and raise money from friends, family members, and even strangers who want to help you pay for your addiction treatment. Some popular online options for crowdfunding include websites like GoFundMe, Fundly, FundRazr, or GoGetFunding.

If you don’t feel comfortable crowdfunding online, you can also sell personal valuables to raise money or ask close family members or friends if they are willing to donate the proceeds from the sales of their unused valuables.

Pay With Personal Savings

If you are able, you may also choose to pay for your drug and alcohol rehab program with your personal savings. You may initially be hesitant to do this, but if you have no other options, it is a great investment in yourself. If you’d like to obtain an estimate of the total cost of drug rehab without insurance or loans, one of our admissions specialists can review that information with you today.

Borrow Money From Family and Friends

If your financial circumstances do not permit a single out-of-pocket payment or you have poor credit, you may have a family member who is willing to help you pay for drug and alcohol rehab. Obtaining personal loans for drug rehab may sound daunting, but you can do this by respectfully asking a loved one if he or she is able and willing to fund your treatment. If so, then you can negotiate and agree on the repayment terms. Your loved one may also ask you to sign documents to confirm the legally binding agreement.

Inquire About Treatment Scholarships for People in Recovery

Many addiction treatment centers and nonprofit organizations offer scholarships that can help people pay for drug and alcohol rehab. If you don’t have insurance or you’re experiencing financial hardship, a scholarship may provide access to high-quality addiction treatment.

Before you submit a scholarship application for addiction treatment online, be sure to thoroughly research the organization or treatment center that is offering the scholarship. You will also want to check eligibility requirements to make sure you are eligible to apply.

If you’re unsure whether or not an addiction treatment center offers scholarships, don’t be afraid to ask! An admissions representative will be able to give you the information you need if a scholarship is available.

Apply for a Grant

If you or a loved one cannot pay for addiction treatment on your own, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides grants for people in recovery. However, you will want to read all the eligibility requirements before you apply. More detailed information is available on the SAMHSA website.

Ask the Treatment Center About Payment Plans

Most addiction treatment centers are very flexible and will work with you to help you achieve your addiction recovery goals. If you cannot pay for drug and alcohol rehab, you don’t have insurance, and you are unable to finance the cost, ask if the facility offers monthly payment plans so you can pay off the cost of treatment gradually over time.

Use Medicare or Medicaid

Not all addiction treatment centers will accept Medicare or Medicaid, but in some instances, you may be able to use these public health insurance programs to help pay for rehab. Although both Medicare and Medicaid cover substance abuse treatment programs, they each have different eligibility requirements and the enrollment process can vary by state. Please visit Medicare.gov or Medicaid.gov for state guidelines, enrollment periods, and eligibility requirements.

Can’t Get Into Immediate Rehab? Join a Local Support Group

If you exhaust all other options and you end up waitlisted at a state-funded treatment center, you can still participate in local support groups while you wait. Both 12-Step and non-12-Step support groups are highly recommended for individuals during treatment, but anyone who wants to get sober can join and attend groups for free.

Addiction recovery support groups provide a host of benefits that are widely-recognized by addiction treatment professionals worldwide. They also offer community-oriented social support that may inspire you to make changes in your own life. The 12-Step Program is designed to support members as they work through the 12 Steps, which were created by Alcoholics Anonymous. Since their initial creation, these steps have been modified and applied to all kinds of addictions, as well as to help the family members of addicted individuals.

Examples of 12-Step groups include:

Not everyone is comfortable with the spiritual aspects of the 12-Step Program, but non-12-Step groups provide similar community support, structure, and accountability for those who need it. Examples of non-12-Step groups include:

Paying for substance abuse treatment without insurance is not impossible. As you can see, there are several different ways you can pay for addiction treatment, with and without insurance. At Nova Recovery Center, we strive to provide the highest-quality drug and alcohol rehab program at the lowest possible cost to increase the availability of treatment for those who need it most.

If you’re searching for drug rehab in Texas with no insurance, don’t wait to get help simply because you’re unsure of your payment options. Talk to an addiction treatment specialist at Nova Recovery Center and find out how to get help paying for drug rehab. Just call (855) 834-6682 to speak with a helpful admissions representative today. Our team has the expertise and knowledge necessary to work with your insurance company and provide helpful and accurate information about other payment options.

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