Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Alcohol treatment essential

One of the toughest steps for an alcoholic is to shake off the denial. It can fester for years until one day he realizes he’s lost — or is on the verge of losing — his family, his job, even his life.

So he takes the plunge and starts to seek a path to recovery. But there are roadblocks. He can’t access or can’t afford the treatment programs, especially the in-patient ones.

It’s a terrible catch-22 for many Wisconsinites who recognize they need real help.

Wisconsin ranks fifth in the country for people over age 12 needing treatment but not receiving it, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Richard Brown, clinical director of the Wisconsin Initiative to Promote Healthy Lifestyles, estimates that only 10 percent to 20 percent of Wisconsinites who need help actually get it.

This is criminal, considering we live in a state that leads the country in risky drinking.

Prohibitive costs and lack of insurance parity for substance abuse treatment are the main culprits. Under Wisconsin law, group health insurers can cap coverage at $7,000 per year for mental health and substance abuse treatment, which includes inpatient and outpatient services.

That might have worked in 1985 when the mandate was established, but today, $7,000 only pays about a quarter to a half of what many month long inpatient programs run.

Two proposals to the Legislature, in 2003 and 2005, to raise the annual coverage for substance abuse and mental health coverage to $16,800 died.

If lawmakers really want to address the drinking problem inherent in the Wisconsin culture — and its attendant societal woes — it has to deal with the treatment aspect of it.

We need to get treatment decisions out of the hands of insurance companies and into those of providers and patients. We need insurance parity for alcohol treatment. We need insurance companies to recognize that inpatient treatment is the best option for some.

While it may take more than one run through a treatment program to stay sober, people who get treatment fare far better than those who don’t.

In a state stymied by treatment options, we quickly need to consider the most cost-efficient and effective options for all our residents who recognize they can’t overcome their addictions alone.
_________
source: Appleton Post Crescent

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Outpatient Versus Inpatient Drug Treatment Centers

Are you wondering if you should seek outpatient treatment rather than inpatient treatment? There are many factors that you must consider when you begin searching for treatment centers such as the level of your addiction, the level of support that you have at home, and also the type of addiction that you suffer from. If….

Alcoholic turns to faith for help

John Baker is a quiet, unassuming man. When he says he deserves no credit for starting Celebrate Recovery, a Christian 12-step program now in 12,000 churches, he means it. Baker, who is in Tulsa this weekend for a Celebrate Recovery leadership training seminar, was raised in a Christian home and said he accepted Christ when….

Red Watch Band friends don’t let friends get too drunk

When Suzanne Fields’ son died of an alcohol overdose last year, a few days after completing his first year of college, she decided she wanted to keep other students from suffering the same fate. “I thought at the time my son died that his death was preventable, that I wanted to do something to prevent….

Alcohol-free weekend raises awareness

Those who decide to give up alcohol this Easter weekend won’t necessarily be doing so because of holiday tradition. For those involved in the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, it will represent an effort to raise awareness of alcohol disease. The three-day challenge, always the first weekend of April, kicks off the 23rd….

Call for alcohol ban outside school

A school governor has called for a ban on parents drinking alcohol while waiting to pick up their children outside school. Arthur Mitchell, chairman of Doncaster Road Primary School’s board of governors in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, said a street drinking ban had been proposed after police received reports that parents had been seen drinking at….