News / Education
Close Addiction Treatment Gap Salvage Healthcare
Treating Americans who are addicted to alcohol and drugs will lead to substantial health care savings
The conclusion of the analysis was that treating Americans who are addicted to alcohol and drugs will lead to substantial health care savings totaling billions of dollars over a decade.
Victor Capoccia, director of the Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap initiative:
"Addiction treatment has an unforeseen benefit of making health reform more affordable, When addictions go untreated, a person's medical care is fragmented, inefficient and ultimately, more costly. There is tremendous momentum now to reform the nation's health care system, and including addiction treatment is a win-win for the nation. Access to effective treatment will help Americans live longer and healthier lives, and it will save billions of dollars over a decade's time compared with the cost of not treating persons at all."The disparity of needed treatment shown in the federal study is being called “The Addiction Treatment GAP”. The gap arises out of a focus on solving the drug problem by incarcerating offenders. Many of whom are not offered addiction treatment.
Mary Rieser executive director of a highly successful addiction treatment program stated:
“Providing access to addiction treatment is the only option I can think of that will actually reduce the burden on the current Health Care System. The other important piece of the puzzle is that we educate not only our youth but the health care providers about the dangers of drug abuse”The program Ms. Rieser directs has shown that addiction treatment programs do work. The program has shown great promise in salvaging the ruined lives of drug addicts.
