[NYAPRS Enews] Why Health Coverage Alone Won't Solve Addiction

[Briana Gilmore]

NYAPRS Note: This brief article succinctly details some of the barriers to fulfilling the promise of parity and expanded behavioral health access in the ACA. Providers have limited resources to invest in workforce development and IT infrastructure, so expanding clientele and coordinating with system providers is a challenge. Building out programs can take years, and in many cases cannot rely on state financing. Providers that have typically been "carved out" of the system and reliant on state budget dollars are now finding themselves with expectations for growth but limited capacity to achieve it. If NY can't answer these big questions in its transition to integrated behavioral health, we will not realize expanded access and coverage and will not be able to rise to the enormous challenge of addiction and mental health in our communities.

Why Health Coverage Alone Won't Solve Addiction
Marketplace Health Care; Dan Gorenstein, 5/5/2015

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, millions more Americans now have insurance that will cover addiction treatment, with spending on addiction treatment expected to almost double by 2020.
But a new report in the journal Health Affairs finds that despite newfound access, many facilities lack the capacity to take on new clients. Even with expanded access, University of South Carolina's Christina Andrews says that coverage alone isn't getting many new patients in the door.
"The reality is it's going to take years. And we have people right now who have great need," she says.
Andrews says half of the programs around the country don't meet basic insurance company requirements.
And as of 2012, 63 percent lacked the health IT they need to communicate with doctors and hospitals. These program will eventually grow, it's just probably not from an investment at the state level, says Henrick Harwood, with National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors.
"Remember that providers are businesses like any other. They are responsible for making their own investments," Harwood says.
He says given how political Obamacare remains, state spending is a long shot. But given the billions in new money that is available, there's reason to think someone will find a way to expand treatment and make a bunch of money.
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/health-care/why-health-coverage-alone-wont-solve-addiction
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