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    The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence fights the stigma and the disease of alcoholism and other drug addictions.
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FYI: FAIRNESS IN TREATMENT


OVERVIEW

  • Untreated addiction costs America $400 billion per year (Substance Abuse: The Nation's Number One Health Problem, Brandeis University, Schneider Institute for Health Policy, 2001).

  • 23 million Americans suffer from substance abuse addiction (Substance Abuse: The Nation's Number One Health Problem, Brandeis University, Schneider Institute for Health Policy, 2001).
  • Untreated addiction is more expensive than 3 of the nation's top 10 killers: 6 times more expensive than America's number one killer: heart disease ($133.2 billion/year), 6 times more than diabetes ($130 billion/year), 4 times more than cancer ($96.1billion/year) (Substance Abuse: The Nation's Number One Health Problem, Brandeis University, Schneider Institute for Health Policy, 2001).

  • Drug related deaths have almost doubled since 1990--approximately one in four deaths each year is attributable to substance abuse (Substance Abuse: The Nation's Number One Health Problem, Brandeis University, Schneider Institute for Health Policy, 2001).

  • More than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or problem drinking (Position Paper on Drug Policy, Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy (PLNDP), Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, 2000).

  • More than 9 million children live with a parent dependent on alcohol and/or illicit drugs (Position Paper on Drug Policy, Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy (PLNDP), Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, 2000).

  • Heavy drinking contributes to illness in each of the top three causes of death: heart disease, cancer and stroke (Position Paper on Drug Policy, Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy (PLNDP), Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, 2000).

SOCIAL AND MEDICAL BARRIERS TO TREATMENT

  • 82% of doctors admit that physicians avoid addressing alcoholism in their patients (The Road to Recovery: A Landmark National Study on Public Perceptions of Alcoholism and Barriers to Treatment. Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. 1998).

  • Families need and want help: 72% of families whose doctor has not intervened to arrest addiction say they would want the doctor to do so (The Road to Recovery: A Landmark National Study on Public Perceptions of Alcoholism and Barriers to Treatment. Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. 1998.)

  • A 58% majority of employers acknowledged that managers avoid addressing alcoholism in their employees (The Road to Recovery: A Landmark National Study on Public Perceptions of Alcoholism and Barriers to Treatment. Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. 1998).

  • 58% of clergy acknowledge that they avoid addressing alcoholism among the individuals and families they counsel (: The Road to Recovery: A Landmark National Study on Public Perceptions of Alcoholism and Barriers to Treatment. Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. 1998).

TREATMENT WORKS

  • Treatment of addiction is as successful as treatment of other chronic diseases, diabetes, hypertension and asthma (National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment, 1999).

  • Drug treatment reduces drug use by 40-60%. (NIDA, Pinciples of Drug Addiction Treatment, 1999).

  • One year of methadone treatment costs $4700 per patient-one year of imprisonment is $18,400 (NIDA, Pinciples of Drug Addiction Treatment, 1999).

  • For every $1 spent on treatment yields a return of up to $7 in a reduction of drug related crime and criminal justice costs (NIDA, Pinciples of Drug Addiction Treatment, 1999).

  • When adding savings related to health care, the savings exceed costs by a ratio of 12:1 (NIDA, Pinciples of Drug Addiction Treatment, 1999).

  • No differences in success of treatment between genders, age or ethnicity (NIDA, Pinciples of Drug Addiction Treatment, 1999).

  • The majority of employee managers (83%) believe its better for a company's bottom-line to help employees recover from addiction than it is to terminate them for alcohol-related incidents (The Road to Recovery: A Landmark National Study on Public Perceptions of Alcoholism and Barriers to Treatment. Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. 1998).
  • Treatment saves money: A Chevron Corporation analysis indicated that $10 is saved for every $1 spent on employee rehabilitation (figure does not include savings for reduction in workplace accidents as a result of employee rehabilitation) (Chevron Corporation, Testimony on Workplace Substance-Abuse Prevention Programs before the Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs and Criminal Justice of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, June 1996).

  • Treatment Works: According to American Airlines, 75% to 80% of employees who received alcohol and other drug treatment had remained abstinent from substances through the entirety of the one-year monitoring activities (John Saylor, Manager of Employee Assistance Programs for AMR Corporation and for American Airlines, AMR's largest subsidiary, July 28, 1998 testimony before the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee).

  • The largest study to date on the benefits of substance abuse treatment found:

    • State-wide emergency room admissions dropped by 1/3 after treatment;

    • The initial cost for treating 150,000 people totaled $200M, the cost savings totaled $1.5 billion. Each day of treatment paid for itself primarily through savings incurred by avoidance of crime-benefits to California taxpayers equaled or exceeded the costs;

    • Crime declined by two-thirds from before treatment to after treatment. The greater the length of time spent in treatment, the greater the percent reduction in criminal activity;

    • Treatment for addiction to major stimulant drugs (crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, and methamphetamine), proved equally effective to treatment for alcohol problems, and somewhat more effective than treatment for heroin problems;

    • No differences in success of treatment between genders, age or ethnicity.
    (University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center and Lewin-VHI of Fairfax, Virginia for the State of California Health and Welfare Agency's Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs in 1994).


COSTS ARE MINIMAL FOR PARITY IN HEALTH PLANS

  • Providing parity for drug and alcohol treatment services does NOT increase health insurance premiums significantly: The most current governmental and private actuarial studies indicate that parity in health insurance plans costs a maximum of $1 per month of all studies conducted:

    • Substance abuse treatment services can be made available to employees for $5.11 a year, or 43¢ per month (The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, May 1999. How Expensive Are Unlimited Substance Abuse Benefits Under Managed Care? By Roland Sturm, Ph.D).

    • According to the actuarial firm of Milliman and Robertson, substance abuse parity will increase premiums by less than one percent or less than $1 per family member per month (Milliman & Robertson, Inc., 1997. Premium Estimates for Substance Abuse Parity Provisions for Commercial Health Insurance Products).

    • A Department of Health and Human Services (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) study found that "if parity was limited to substance abuse, premiums would rise by only 0.2 percent." Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) March 1998 study examined expansion of mental health and substance abuse insurance benefits found that "based on an updated actuarial model, full parity for mental health and substance abuse services is estimated to increase premiums by 3.6 percent, on average. Mental health accounts for most of this increase." (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, March 1998).


  • 5 states with parity in their health plans (California, Ohio, Oregon, Minnesota and Washington) found that costs associated with substance abuse benefits tend to have little impact on premiums or the overall spending of insurance companies and that the initial costs are offset by the resultant social benefits of treatment (The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's Office of Managed Care and the Center for Mental Health Service).
Compiled 3/01

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