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Insurance Basics
Here, you can find the basics to understanding health insurance and how to use your insurance to pay for addiction care. Learn the terms, what questions to ask and how to keep track of communications with your health plan.
Without insurance, health care can be very expensive. While seeking affordable health care can be difficult for any condition, finding care for substance use disorder is especially tricky. Individuals and their families are often unable to find a treatment provider that accepts their insurance, or face denials for care. Sometimes they must make hard decisions to pay for the costs or go without care.
These barriers add to the challenges of getting a loved one to seek out treatment. Stigma and shame regarding substance use disorder also prevent individuals and families from pushing back against insurance denials. And insurance denials for addiction treatment often occur in a time of crisis, when the focus is on getting a loved one life-saving care.
In this resource center, we will explain some of the details of insurance. We will help you understand your rights to receiving coverage for proper substance use disorder care. There are many tools and resources you can use when trying to use your insurance to pay for care or when navigating a denial. The bottom line: you should never accept a “no” from your insurance company.
Here, you can find the basics to understanding health insurance and how to use your insurance to pay for addiction care. Learn the terms, what questions to ask and how to keep track of communications with your health plan.
The Parity Act is a federal law that requires health plans to cover mental health and substance use disorder treatment like treatment for any other disease. Learn what the Parity Act is, your rights and how to spot possible violations.
Receiving a denial can be incredibly stressful and disappointing. But denials can be overturned if you fight them. There are many resources and guides to help you navigate a denial.
Too often, we hear stories from families who face insurance barriers when trying to get care for their loved one. Read and listen to their experiences and share your own.
Sign these action alerts to let your members of Congress know you support bills requiring stronger insurance coverage requirements.
We conduct research to identify barriers to insurance coverage and develop recommendations for policymakers to address them.
There are a number of other organizations working on parity and MH/SUD insurance coverage. Please see their websites for additional resources.
ProPublica published a series of articles highlighting the insurance barriers to mental health and addiction care: America’s Mental Barrier: How Insurers Interfere With Mental Health Care.
Statement from Partnership to End Addiction and 15 other leading behavioral health organizations applauding the new parity rules released in September 2024.
An RTI analysis of health claims data found disproportionate use of out-of-network providers for mental health and substance use care compared to medical/surgical care.
ProPublica published a series of articles highlighting the insurance barriers to mental health and addiction care: America’s Mental Barrier: How Insurers Interfere With Mental Health Care.
Statement from Partnership to End Addiction and 15 other leading behavioral health organizations applauding the new parity rules released in September 2024.
An RTI analysis of health claims data found disproportionate use of out-of-network providers for mental health and substance use care compared to medical/surgical care.