What if I Need Detox, But I Don’t Have Insurance?

One of the most common reasons that people cite for avoiding drug or alcohol addiction treatment is that they believe they can’t afford it because they don’t have insurance, or they have limited insurance coverage. The truth is, you do not have to let financial concerns get in the way of your health and wellbeing. There are lower cost addiction treatment options that can help you get a drug or alcohol detox without insurance, and there are multiple ways that you can seek financial support for detox and addiction treatment. There are even free detox centers available for those who qualify. Read on to find out more about what you can do to finance the addiction treatment you need.

Do I Really Need Drug or Alcohol Detox?

If you aren’t quite sure that you need a professional drug or alcohol detox, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I drink or use when I don’t intend to, or more than I intend to?
2. Do I hide my drug or alcohol use from family and friends?
3. Do I get hostile, defensive, or angry when confronted about my substance use?
4. Do I suffer withdrawal symptoms when I don’t drink or use?
5. Have drugs and/or alcohol created problems with my health, career, relationships, or in any other area of life, and yet I keep using or drinking anyway?
6. Do I drink or use to escape from my life or to cope with stress or conflict?
7. Have I developed a tolerance to drugs or alcohol that requires me to consume more to feel the same effects?
8. Are drugs or alcohol causing me to neglect my responsibilities at school, home, or work?
9. Do I spend almost all my time and energy on getting, using, or recovering from the consequences of drugs or alcohol?
10. Have I taken risks or acted in ways while drunk or high that I would not have while sober?
11. Have I tried and failed to quit before?

Think about how it felt to answer these questions. Whether you said yes to just two or three, or eight or more, you will know by that feeling if you have an unhealthy relationship with addictive substances.

Quitting drugs or alcohol isn’t easy, however, and can even be dangerous when you attempt to do it cold turkey, on your own. A professional detoxification at a treatment center with medical and counseling staff on hand to help you through your withdrawal symptoms will protect your health, keep you as comfortable as possible, and safeguard you from the risk of relapsing before your body and brain have had the chance to fully heal the damage done by addictive substances.

Relapsing immediately after detox can put you at serious risk of drug overdose or alcohol poisoning, because your tolerance will be much lower, but your instinct will be to use or drink at the same level you were accustomed to before detoxification. That’s why it’s crucial to find a quality detox center that provides counseling and other forms of treatment to keep you steady on the road to recovery.

How Can I Get Detox Without Insurance?

1. Low Cost Detox

You can find affordable detox; call today!

Yes, there are luxury detox centers that offer gourmet meals, five-star accommodations, and pampering spa treatments, but luxury extras (nice as they are) do not actually help you recover from drug or alcohol addiction. There are low cost options that can help you get drug or alcohol detox without insurance, or with limited insurance coverage, which will give you just as much chance of overcoming your addiction as any exclusive, celebrity-filled facility could.

Many people struggling with addiction are also struggling with financial issues, and for this reason, a large number of detox centers are willing to work with patients to find the right program options and payment plans to make treatment affordable for any budget. In 2008, 76.3% of addiction treatment centers in the U.S. offered some form of financial help to patients.

Sometimes this help comes in the form of very low-cost programs that are partly government funded, or funded by churches or non-profit organizations. Sometimes detox centers will charge patients on a sliding fee scale that determines how much you should pay based on how much you earn and how much you own. Some detox centers offer facility grants to patients, often funded by government agencies, to cover the cost of treatment. There are many ways that treatment facilities can make it affordable for you to get drug or alcohol detox without insurance; you just have to be willing to do the research and ask for help.

2. Free Detox

How much does detox cost? Believe it or not, sometimes the answer is nothing. There really are free detox centers available to help people all across the country. The only catch is you have to prove that you qualify before you can receive free treatment. This means you will need to deal with a whole lot of paperwork. Thankfully, some facilities and organizations will provide you with help filling out the forms correctly, or refer you to other agencies who can help you. You can also go to your local library, where most librarians are willing to help patrons with all kinds of paperwork.

You will also need to supply the detox facility with a lot of different documents that prove your specific financial situation. These documents can include:

• Pay stubs
• Tax returns
• Income statements
• Employment contracts
• Bank statements
• W2s
• Reference letters
• Government assistance forms

Anyone can acquire these documents without much trouble, but getting, making, and sending out copies of documents combined with filling out all the paperwork can be very time consuming, and will involve a lot of emails, meetings, and phone calls. Just remember that you are fighting for FREE detox treatment, and that is worth however much effort you have to put in.

You can find out more about free detox centers here at Detox.com, or at doctors’ offices, hospitals, community health departments, therapists’ offices, local nonprofits, churches, government agencies, and more. Being open about your desire for treatment with others can be a great way to try and discover free detox centers near you, because even if it doesn’t help you find free detox, it will definitely help you get in the kind of honest headspace you need to benefit from treatment.

What If I Don’t Qualify for Free Detox?

Not everyone qualifies for treatment at a free detox center. Maybe you lost your job, but you still own a home, a car, and a boat.  Maybe you make a decent living and have health insurance, but your coverage is very limited, and your bank account is overdrawn. You can be having financial difficulties, and yet still not quite qualify for free treatment—but there are still ways to pay for the detox treatment you need.

1. Take Out a Loan

There are many banks or loan companies that will provide you with a personal hardship loan to cover the costs of addiction treatment. Make sure to think carefully about every step and get plenty of advice along the way if you take this route, however. You want to be sure that you are working with a reputable financial institution, that the terms of the loan are fair and reasonable, and that the interest rate is low, so that you won’t get cheated, or end up spending too much more than the actual cost of treatment.

2. Ask Your Loved Ones

Consider asking a financially comfortable loved one, or multiple friends and family members, to fund your detox and addiction treatment costs. These people care about you and want you to get your life back, and they will most likely offer financial help if they can afford to. Accepting money from your loved ones for treatment will also provide additional motivation, because you will feel like you owe them a successful recovery. Involving the people who care about you in your addiction treatment in any way will result in better recovery outcomes overall. Studies have shown that social support combined with addiction treatment will greatly increase your chances of staying substance-free.

3. Try Crowdfunding

Thanks to the internet, there are exciting new ways to ask for financial help. Websites like GoFundMe allow you to create an online fundraising campaign to raise the money you need for addiction treatment. The online platform makes it easy for family, friends, friends of friends, coworkers, and even strangers, to contribute relatively small amounts of money that can really add up. If you aren’t very good with words or social media, you may want to ask someone for help, since these pages work best when they tap into people’s emotions in a way that moves them to help your cause. This kind of funding can also hold you accountable, because you will want to provide your donors with updates on your progress, to show them how much their contributions mean to you.

4. Use Your Savings

Dipping into your savings, retirement account, or selling assets like a car or boat to pay for drug or alcohol detox is not ideal, but it may be the smartest thing to do in your situation. You have to prioritize what really matters to you. Besides, if you allow your addiction to continue unchecked, you will most likely drain away your assets trying to fund your addiction—or worse, you could die before you have enough time to lose everything you own.

Is Detox Worth the Cost?

1. Detox Costs Less Than Addiction

Addiction is expensive. Not only does it lead you to spend money you may not even have on drugs or alcohol, it can cost you a great deal of money in other areas. It can lead you to miss out on earning hourly pay, it can get you fired from your job, and it can create all kinds of medical and legal expenses related to substance use. The truth is, addiction treatment is much more cost effective than the alternative—not just for the individual, but for society. Studies have shown that the initial cost of detox and addiction treatment produces an average of 7 times more financial benefit to society, usually related to increased employment earnings and reduced crime costs. Addiction treatment is a truly wise investment of both taxpayer dollars and personal finances. Consider the cost of detox and addiction treatment as an investment in a brighter, happier, more financially sound future.

2. Your Wellbeing is Priceless

When it comes down to matters of life and death, money isn’t all that important. Your wellbeing is priceless. You may be worried about the cost of drug and alcohol detox without insurance, but the real concern is what kind of life will you have without detox and addiction treatment? Addiction can ruin relationships, cause or worsen mental health problems, rob you of your goals and dreams, and eventually cost you your life. Addiction treatment, on the other hand, can help you rebuild damaged relationships, form new relationships, heal mental and emotional pain, and put you on a path towards setting and achieving goals that you can barely even dream of now. You can’t put a price on health and happiness, or on life itself.

Ready to begin your recovery journey? Call 800-996-6135(Who Answers?) to learn about available treatment programs for drug and alcohol addiction.