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Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The NSDUH Report: Health Insurance and Substance Use Treatment Need

  • Health insurance and the need for and receipt of substance abuse treatment among adults aged 18 or older was examined based on combined 2004 and 2005 SAMHSA National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. Types of health insurance included Medicare, Medicaid/CHIP, military health care, and private insurance. An annual average of 85.4% adults had some type of health insurance in the past year and 70.5% had private health insurance. Adults needing substance abuse treatment in the past year were less likely to have some type of health insurance coverage in the past year than adults not needing treatment (74.4% vs. 86.6%).
  • About half (51.2%) of the adults needing treatment whose last treatment in the past year was at a specialty substance abuse treatment reported that some type of health insurance (private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, military health care, or other insurance) paid for the services.
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