‘Rehab Racket’: High Costs Of Addiction Treatment And Questions Over Efficacy

The high cost of addiction care. Is it a rehab racket? We ask the Vox reporter who investigated.

Guests

German Lopez, senior correspondent for Vox. He is working on a series on America’s addiction treatment industry called "The Rehab Racket." (@germanrlopez)

Christina Delos Reyes, co-director of Addiction Recovery Services and director of the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

From The Reading List

Vox: "She spent more than $110,000 on drug rehab. Her son still died." — "Kim Blake keeps a folder in her house, swollen with papers. Each document represents yet another try at helping her son Sean recover from a decade of drug addiction.

"Some papers are certificates of graduation from rehab, one telling Sean that “you are no longer alone.” Some are letters by Sean marking his progress, going back to his late teens, writing about getting better.

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"And there are many, many bills. I verified the bills and that the Blakes paid for them. The total cost: $110,000.

"That’s the minimum that Kim and her husband Tim, Sean’s dad, estimated they spent on addiction treatment. The Blakes said they also spent thousands on other treatments that they no longer have bills or receipts for. (Their insurance provider made additional payments, as well.)

"Through it all, the Blakes drained their savings for retirement, along with college funds for both Sean and his younger brother.

"Kim told me, through tears, that there was one outcome that would have made it all worth it: 'If he had survived, we would have said it was money well spent. There’s no question.'

"But none of the treatments stuck. In August 2017, Sean died of a drug overdose involving alcohol and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. He was 27 years old."

Gallup: "Substance Abuse Hits Home for Close to Half of Americans" — "Close to half of U.S. adults, 46%, have dealt with substance abuse problems in their family: 18% have had just alcohol problems and 10% have had just drug problems, while 18% have experienced both.

"These findings are based on combined 2018-2019 data from Gallup's annual Consumption Habits poll, conducted each July. Overall, across the two polls, 36% of Americans reported that drinking has been a cause of trouble in their family and 28% said the same of drug abuse.

"Both questions are lifetime measures, asking Americans if drinking or drug abuse has ever been a problem in their family. It might be expected that the rates of reported problems would increase by age, given that older Americans have had more time to accumulate life experiences, but that is not the case."

Vox: "How to find good addiction treatment, according to experts" — "Looking for drug rehab? It can be extremely difficult — and horribly expensive. In some cases, families spend years and thousands of dollars before they find treatment that works.

"Michel Cote, whose two daughters are now in recovery from opioid and meth addictions, said it took his family 10 years and $200,000 to find a small clinic that finally helped.

"'I got to a point where I didn’t think anything would work,' Cote, who lives in Silicon Valley, said. 'I actually thought that this was probably hopeless, and it was just a matter of time until the big disaster hits. But we had to keep trying.'

"For Vox’s drug addiction treatment project, The Rehab Racket, I reached out to experts to figure out how to make this process a little better for people seeking treatment.

"Above all, experts emphasized that patients should go for the most comprehensive and individualized treatments possible. It’s crucial not to settle for a one-size-fits-all approach, even if those worked for someone you know. Addiction is a complicated illness that varies from individual to individual, so different approaches can work better for different people. Programs should assess patients and adapt based on their needs."