FirstCare Coverage for Drug and Alcohol Detox & Addiction Treatment

First founded in Amarillo, Texas in 1985, FirstCare operates as a locally-owned health insurance carrier that services counties throughout the west Texas region. The company prides itself on being able to offer quality, affordable healthcare through partnering with the communities it serves. FirstCare health plans offer several benefits, including coverage options for drug and alcohol detox and addiction treatment.

Like most any other form of healthcare, the costs of rehab continue to rise with each passing year. Your FirstCare plan can help offset drug treatment costs and lessen the strain of having to pay for needed treatment care.

Gaining a basic understanding of how your health policy works can help you better manage your financial situation when choosing a detox program. In the process, you can ensure that the program you choose is best suited to help you overcome the effects of drug or alcohol addiction in your life.

Does FirstCare Cover Drug & Alcohol Detox?

Detox care can easily become a make or break step in the recovery process. For this reason, it’s important to ensure the program you choose offers the level of treatment supports you need to maintain abstinence from substance abuse on an ongoing basis.

FirstCare plans provide coverage for detox treatment, though coverage levels vary based on plan type as well as on your specific policy conditions. Two of FirstCare’s most popular plan types include FirstCare Select HMO Network and FirstCare Access PPO Network.

FirstCare Select HMO Network requires you to seek out detox programs within your assigned healthcare network. HMO plans also require a referral from your primary care physician. FirstCare Access PPO Network plans also belong to an assigned network, but you can still choose detox programs that are outside the network. Also, PPO plans don’t always require a referral from your primary care physician.

All FirstCare health plans require you to obtain prior authorization in order for plan benefits to kick in.

Does FirstCare Cover Drug & Alcohol Rehab?

When alcohol or drug abuse becomes an out-of-control habit, detox treatment alone is not enough to address the cause of substance abusing behaviors. After completing detox, some form of rehab treatment should be considered in order to regain control of a substance abuse problem.

FirstCare health plans do provide coverage for drug and alcohol rehab. Much like the procedure when choosing a detox program, prior authorization must be obtained beforehand.

Since rehab treatment can take any number of forms, FirstCare will base its authorization on whether there’s a medical necessity for continued care. Medical necessity has to do with whether the type of treatment your considering is necessary to your overall recovery success.

Types of rehab program services covered by FirstCare health plans include:

• Inpatient programs
• Partial hospitalization
• Outpatient treatment
• Residential programs
• Medicare care
• Mental health care

How Long Will FirstCare Cover Detox Services?

FirstCare will provide the coverage you need to overcome drug and alcohol dependency!

Over time, drugs and alcohol cause widespread damage to the body’s physical processes and psychological stability. The longer a substance abuse problem goes untreated, the greater the damage done. With the most severe cases, full-blown medical and psychological conditions often develop during the course of abusing drugs and alcohol.

As a general rule, the severity of your condition will determine how long FirstCare will cover detox services. Once again, medical necessity will be the deciding factor. This means, if you continue to experience severe withdrawal effects after the standard detox term has ended, it’s likely your health plan will cover ongoing treatment.

In cases of severe or long-term opiate addiction, medication-assisted programs that use methadone and Suboxone have proven effective as detox therapies, on both a short-term and long-term basis. Your FirstCare plan may well cover this line of treatment provided your physician can justify a need.

Does FirstCare Provide Coverage for Luxury Detox & Other Non-Essential Benefits?

Luxury detox programs specialize in offering amenities and services that enhance the detox experience in terms of physical comfort and emotional well-being. These programs do follow standard detox treatment protocols, but may also incorporate a range of alternative therapies along the way.

Amenities and services typically included in a luxury program include:

• Top-notch accommodations, such as private rooms and private bathrooms
• Gourmet dining
• Holistic therapies, such as yoga, Reiki and energy balancing
• Scenic locations, such as ocean-side facilities

While these services do add to the detox recovery experience, they’re not considered medically necessary treatments for detox recovery. Your FirstCare plan may still cover the services deemed medically necessary, leaving the remaining costs to be paid by you.

How Can I Cover the Excess Costs of Detox That Are NOT Covered by Insurance?

As with most other forms of health insurance, FirstCare can help offset treatment costs, but they’ll likely be some out-of-pocket costs to pay all the same. Considering how substance abuse habits slowly but surely drain your financial resources, having to cover out-of-pocket costs may be too much to take on at this time.

Detox and rehab programs well know the toll addiction can take on one’s finances, which is why most programs offer ways to help make covering out-of-pocket costs more affordable. Depending on your situation and the program you’re working with, you may be able to take advantage of available payment assistance options.

Payment assistance options to consider include:

• Medical discount services
• Installment plans
• Third-party financing
• Grant and scholarship openings
• Monthly payment plans

Free Insurance Benefits Check-Your Detox May Be Fully Covered

While FirstCare health plans may not cover all of your treatment costs, there are ways to ensure you get the most out of your coverage benefits. This entails comparing your existing plan coverage against various detox and rehab program options. While this is something you can do on your own, Detox.com can make the task so much easier.

We here at Detox.com can do a free insurance benefits check for you and find programs that accept your level of coverage. We can also help you choose programs that are experienced in addressing the types of challenges you face in recovery.

Call our toll-free helpline at 800-996-6135(Who Answers?) to speak with one of our benefits advisers about finding an affordable program option that can meet your treatment needs.