Kaiser Permanente Coverage for Drug and Alcohol Detox & Addiction Treatment

Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente insurance operates as a nonprofit organization with a net income of $1.9 billion as of 2015. This makes Kaiser Permanente one of the largest nonprofit companies in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, DC, Kaiser provides insurance protections for individuals, families and employers.

If you belong to a Kaiser health plan, rest assured, your plan policy does cover detox and addiction treatment services, which makes the cost of getting needed treatment help more affordable. Whether you’ve struggled with drug or alcohol problems for years or are still at the early stages of substance abuse, your plan will cover a good portion of your treatment costs, and in some cases all of them.

For now, understanding how your health insurance coverage can help offset rehab costs brings you one step closer to finding a program that’s right for you.

Does Kaiser Permanente Cover Drug & Alcohol Detox?

Kaiser Permanente does cover drug and alcohol detox services, though their plan structure is different from other major insurance companies. The company is made up of two organizations: the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and the Permanente Medical Group. The Kaiser Foundation manages the insurance part, while Permanente Medical Group provides the healthcare services.

The majority of healthcare services insured by Kaiser are provided through Permanente-owned medical centers and agencies. This difference allows Kaiser Permanente to streamline services and provide quality care to its customers.

Health plan types offered through Kaiser include:

• Deductible plans
• Preferred Provider Organizations, or PPOs
• Point of Service plans, or POSs
• Out-of-Area plans
• Health Management Organizations, or HMOs

Each coverage option varies in terms of deductible amounts, copay amounts, benefit allowances and monthly premium costs.

Does Kaiser Permanente Cover Drug & Alcohol Rehab?

For most people struggling with substance abuse issues, detox treatment is not enough to eliminate substance abusing behaviors. After completing detox, the need for ongoing treatment support is critical to maintaining continued abstinence. Kaiser Permanente provides coverage for drug and alcohol rehab services provided the services you receive are deemed medically necessary.

Medical necessity is based on how you progress through recovery. Since addiction recovery takes time, it’s likely you’ll need to transition to less intensive forms of treatment over time. The level of coverage you have will determine what types of programs and services are covered.

Kaiser Permanente plans will pay for the following types of rehab services:

• Medication-assisted therapies, such as Suboxone and methadone
• Inpatient care
• Residential treatment programs
• Intensive outpatient treatment programs
• Standard outpatient programs

How Long Will Kaiser Permanente Cover Detox Services?

Kaiser Permanente insurance can cover your detox treatment and free you from drug dependence!

Drug and alcohol abuse can cause any number of physical and psychological problems. In the most severe of cases, chronic medical conditions and psychological disorders prolong the detox stage and make it much more difficult to complete. For these reasons, it’s important to ensure you choose a program that offers the types of treatment supports you need to make it through the detox stage.

Kaiser Permanente plans will pay for detox services for up to 90 days, though the types of services covered will vary depending on the level of coverage you have. Since the company employs the doctors and medical centers it works with, it’s that much easier to coordinate your plan benefits with any one program’s offerings.

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

Kaiser Permanente does cover luxury detox programs, though some conditions apply. Luxury-based programs, in general, often use non-standard or experimental treatment techniques, such acupuncture and neurofeedback. Many of these alternative techniques lack sufficient data to deem them effective.

Under these conditions, the question of medical necessity comes into play. For these reasons, Kaiser Permanente does not cover non-standard treatment techniques under their plan.

Luxury detox programs also tend to offer supplementary therapies, such as music and energy therapies. Your Kaiser plan will cover these types of therapies provided they’re a standard part of the program’s treatment model.

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

Considering how detoxification often takes place within a heavily monitored treatment setting, the costs of detox treatment can run considerably higher than other levels of rehab care. While your Kaiser Permanente plan will likely pick up a large portion of these costs, you’ll still have to pay your deductible, any required copays as well as your monthly premiums.

If out-of-pocket insurance costs end up being more than you can handle, a number of detox programs that accept Kaiser plans will work with you to make the cost of treatment more affordable. Ways a program may help include:

• Allowing you to make monthly payments
• Connecting you with third-party financing options
• Adjusting treatment costs based on your monthly income earnings
• Offering you available grant or scholarship opportunities

Free Insurance Benefits Check-Your Detox May Be Fully Covered

If you need help getting started with finding detox programs, we can help. Call us here at 800-996-6135(Who Answers?) for more information.