A Chicago based company is encouraging policyholders to review their coverage for a better understanding.
Gateway Alcohol & Drug Treatment, a company based in Chicago, has been attempting to spread awareness of addiction insurance among Illinois residents who may not even realize that their health plans may now offer them a range of different alcohol and rehab benefits.
The health care reform has added substance abuse treatment to many policies but policyholders may not realize it.
The organization is encouraging people in Illinois to check on their coverage, even if they have been denied for claims for addiction insurance , such as alcohol or drug rehabilitation, in the past. The reason is that many health plans now include mental and substance abuse disorder treatment coverage in the same way that they cover surgical and general medical treatments. This is because all of the federal parity laws, the Affordable Care Act, and Illinois Parity have gone into effect.
Addiction insurance coverage can assist many people, but they need to know that they have it, first.
According to the CEO and president of the organization, Michael Darcy, “There are thousands of Illinois residents who need care for addiction issues and now more than ever they have access to treatment through their health insurance.” Gateway issued a news release that included a number of tips to help people to better understand and use their drug and alcohol rehab coverage through their health plans. They included the following:
• Knowing Illinois Parity Rights, which means that most large employer plans must have certain coverages for substance use disorders, such as 45 inpatient addiction treatment days and 60 outpatient addiction treatment visits (such as individual outpatient addiction treatments as well as those in groups) .
• Knowing which health plans are required to follow the federal parity laws.
• Understanding which ones do not (this includes Medicare, and plans purchased outside the insurance exchange, among others).
• Not allowing an initial denial to be considered an end. If the plan meets state and federal parity criteria, an initial denial may not necessarily mean that there isn’t any coverage available.
• Selecting a reputable treatment center in order to obtain the most out of the addiction insurance coverage that is available.
