Medical insurance is little help. The majority of policies no longer cover recovery treatment. Of those that do, according to numerous physicians' assistants and rehab grads, most will drop you as soon as your policy expires. Other companies are simply refusing to accept anyone with rehab on their records. When coverage is there, it often ties the physician's hands.
Insurance companies determine everything.
The standard addiction patient now is just de-tox and out. If the patient can walk, talk, and feed themselves, they have to be out of the hospital, regardless of how abject their condition or history. At the demand of the insurance companies, Pinsky says he has sent some patients home who have gone on to overdose and kill themselves. Then, the insurance company goes, 'Well the doctor discharged him. His name is on the chart.