Access to addiction treatment restricted for middle class

Addiction does not discriminate – it wreaks havoc on individuals and families regardless of race, age, gender or socioeconomic status. But there’s a huge gap in access to treatment for a very large portion of the population: the middle-class.

The two primary socio-economic groups in this country with access to residential substance use disorder (SUD) treatment are the very wealthy and the very poor. When you are wealthy, you can pay out of pocket for yourself or a loved one; and if you are uninsured or underinsured, you can qualify for Medicaid to access residential addiction treatment. That leaves out a large slice of the population — the teachers, firefighters, construction workers — who don’t qualify for state-funded programs and don’t have the wealth to cover the cost of a residential stay, which is an important component of the treatment spectrum. The middle class may have some money to pay for treatment, but their resources are stretched thin and the necessary care it takes for successful, long-term recovery is often out of reach.

Just as the disease of addiction is on a spectrum from mild to moderate to severe, the response to treating the disease must also be a full spectrum of services from residential services to intensive outpatient to outpatient. Included in the spectrum of services is the ability to access appropriate medications that, in conjunction with the appropriate level of treatment, can provide effective paths toward recovery.

Just as the disease of addiction is on a spectrum from mild to moderate to severe, the response to treating the disease must also be a full spectrum of services.