The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is going to dramatically change the way we treat addiction problems. Not only is it going to mean that many more people are going to be covered by their insurance for alcohol or drug rehab, but it is also going to mean that addiction treatment becomes part of mainstream healthcare.

The Affordable Care Act and Substance Abuse Treatment Creates New Opportunities

There are believed to be about 25 million people in the US who would fall into the category of substance abuser. Not all of these individuals are going to need to find alcohol rehabs or drug rehabs in order to overcome this behavior, but the majority of them would benefit from this type of treatment. The ACA is going to make it possible for an extra 3 million of these people to get the help they need.

It can be a real struggle for people to break away from addiction without the help of some type of alcohol or drug rehabilitation program. There are a huge number of individuals who are struggling with a substance abuse problem and want to stop, but they feel unable to do this alone. Too many lives have been lost because those who felt ready to break away from addiction did not get the help they needed.

The ACA is going to mean that 30 million people are going to be able to benefit from affordable health insurance. It also means that treatments for addiction are going to be now readily available with this type of coverage.

The Affordable Care Act Means Addiction Is Coming In From the Cold

Addiction has been recognized as a disease of the brain for decades, but it is still not treated like other medical conditions. There is indisputable evidence that the person trapped in addiction is not just being willful, but it can be still be extremely difficult to change perceptions of this behavior – even with people who should know better.

The ACA means that addiction treatment is now going to be given more resources and firmly placed within the realms of mainstream healthcare. When this law comes into effect in 2014, it is going to revolutionize the way addiction is dealt with in the US. It is no longer going to be possible to keep addiction on the fringes of medicine – it is going to be treated in much the same way as other medical conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

How Will The Affordable Care Act and Addiction Treatment Impact You?

Addiction impacts the lives of millions of Americans – it costs the country about $500 billion every year. This problem is not going to go away by itself. The ACA is going to make it possible for more people to enter drug and alcohol rehab, and it is also going to mean more medical resources becoming available for the treatment of this condition.

There are likely to be many knock-on-effects of the ACA. Now that substance abuse treatment has entered mainstream healthcare, it should encourage pharmaceutical companies to pump more money into research. There may never be a chemical cure for addiction, but these substances can make it easier for people to break free of this behavior.

In the future we can expect more healthcare professionals to be involved in the treatment of addiction. Addiction medicine is still a relatively young specialty, but the ACA is going to give it a significant boost. It should mean that many more doctors make the decision to go into this exciting branch of medicine.