Our insurance company refused to cover the long-term treatment my son needed
Even though addiction is a chronic disease, it is often treated with brief, episodic care.
Sometimes he had insurance and they would cover it, but they would only cover it for brief periods of time. Sometimes they would cover three or four or five days of treatment, and then they would say, “Well, you know what, we can’t cover him anymore,” and then we would have to find another alternative for him.
My son needed long-term treatment that was affordable, and it simply didn’t exist. Most of it was out-of-pocket, and anything that wasn’t out-of-pocket was short-term. And it just wasn’t enough. It just wasn’t enough.
I think for my son being 11 years in addiction, what he really needed was at least a year away, maybe even longer, that was affordable to us and to him. And it just wasn’t feasible.
Nancy’s story is taken from an interview transcript and has been edited for clarity.
