Expansion of Substance Use Disorder Treatment Within Reach Through Health Care Reform

National health care reform provides California with the best opportunity to date to significantly expand and improve the care for people requiring substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA2010) requires that all health plans include treatment for substance use disorders among their basic benefits. This act greatly expands coverage to people for whom treatment is unavailable. At the same time, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA2008) assures these disorders are covered in the same way as all other medical and surgical benefits. Together, these landmark acts improve the availability and quality of care for people with SUD.
 
Californians with substance use disorders are grossly underserved. According to the 2007 state estimates from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 764,000 Californians needed but didn’t receive treatment for drug use and 2.3 million Californians needed but did not receive treatment for alcohol use.1 The Affordable Care Act breeches this disparity by expanding Medicaid eligibility to everyone, including childless adults, up to 133 percent of federal poverty level, and requires that all receive basic benefits that include SUD treatment. These benefits extend to poor and uninsured Californians – such as the homeless, ex-offenders, unemployed and others – who today have little access to effective SUD treatment. In California, 6 million individuals who were previously uninsured will receive basic medical benefits. The Act extends coverage through other means, including by mandating SUD treatment in private coverage plans and allowing parents to maintain children on their health plans until age 27, and also bans denial of coverage for any pre-existing condition. Many of these changes impacting SUD treatment do not go into effect until 2014.  > > > >  Read More