Can't get son into rehab

diana71

Member
Okay so long story short doctors and hospitals are dropping Humana insurance which is what my son has. He has an HMO which requires a doctors referral. When he got the insurance he picked a doctor from their list and once we got the card in the mail we tried to make an appointment and they said they don't take Humana any longer. This happened 3 times!! FINALLY we found a doctor on their list that actually does take Humana and it took us 4 days to get him in and today he went for the referral and she gave it to us. But since the doctors at the hospital saw no signs of withdrawls the insurance declined paying even though we had a doctors referral. I live in Texas and can't for the life of me find a free in patient hospital or at least has a sliding scale or something. I can't afford 30-50k! Does anyone know where I can turn? I have called hospitals in the area and the places they gave me numbers for were sober housing where he has to have been sober for 30 days and already completed rehab somewhere. I have never felt so lost in my life. There is very little help here for those that need it but can't afford it. And his insurance is just a joke.
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I am typing on my phone so this will be short but my daughter has the Humana HMO and we ran into the exact same problem. Humana has managed to skirt the rules by not covering people who got insurance through the exchanges the same as other people.

We found an IOP that they did pay 100 percent that works in combination with the IOP.

I will add more later when I get home.

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Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Hello. I'm home now. My husband called a lot of rehabs where my daughter lives trying to find some that would take her insurance. He did find some that would take it but still wanted $4000 a month for "room and board." We were not willing to do that since we had already paid out of pocket for our daughter's three months stay in a residential treatment center. Then, the social worker at the psychiatric hospital that she was in after a suicide attempt suggested calling a specific person at a rehab that knew a lot about insurance and rehabs and he suggested a step down to a combination IOP/halfway house program. Humana did pay for the IOP 100% since my daughter had gone over her $1450 out of pocket max.

Of course, that still leaves the halfway house rent and food for us to pay until she gets a job but the director of the halfway house is working on that. It still beats $4000 a month for a rehab.

As far as halfway houses not taking your son, try calling a lot of different ones. I have found that they all have different rules and different levels of supervision. My daughter has not been sober for 30 days but that didn't stop her from being admitted to where she is now. They even picked her up from the psychiatric hospital, drove her to her apartment to get her things, and then took her to the halfway house.

I agree that it really is not fair that we thought we were finally getting insurance for our difficult child only to find out later that it did not cover residential treatment centers. They use a loophole stating that they are "subacute" freestanding treatment centers and therefore not covered. I think Humana is just trying to keep its costs down and profits up which is why I don't think our health care should ever be in the hands of a profit making corporation. But that gets into politics so I will just end this here.

Let us know what happens.

~Kathy
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Oh, one more thing. That person that my husband talked told him that when rehabs have open beds you can often negotiate on the price. He told husband that if we really wanted her in a rehab and they told us that the room and board would be $4000, to offer them $1500 a month instead. He said you would be surprised how often that will take it just to fill a bed.

Also, husband did finally find out (after talking to someone at Humana forever) that it would cover a hospital based substance abuse program. It might be worth calling hospitals to see if any of them have an inpatient rehab program.
 

Nancy

Well-Known Member
I'm so sorry to hear this from both you ladies. I too was hoping that with the new healthcare law more people would be able to get treatment. Veey disappointing. We have more freestanding treatmenr cwenters here than hospitals that treat addicts.
 
Look into the CTTC prog in TX. Is thru justice system and I dont know if they take priv pts but worth a try. My difficult child court ordered.

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Carri

Active Member
My son has been in several rehabs, including Salvation Army. He'll share with me how good some of the programs have been but that he just wasn't ready. 5 months ago he walked out of a 2 year court ordered program and was homeless. When he finally called me a few months ago he said he couldn't explain why he left? That it was a great program. Well, he's been picked up on another drug charge and is currently in LAC County Jail, rated one of the ten worst prisons to be in in the United States. Maybe this will be his awakening? Look at all the celebrities that have gone to fancy, expensive rehabs and can't get clean! Drugs are so powerful, ruining so many lives. My heart is so heavy knowing where my son is and not knowing what's in store for him. I just need to get busy so that I don't have time to worry. I can go to very dark places when left alone with my own crazy mind. Prayer! I have to remind myself to pray, for my own serenity and that my son finds his higher power.


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DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
We had the same problem with rehabs here. It seems here that even the outpatient treatment centers only deal with opiates. Since some substances dont have physical withdrawal as a symptom then you are out of luck. Now part of my son's problem was the fact that he was refusing inpatient.
 
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