Tricare Alcohol Rehab: Tricare Rehab Coverage for Veterans

Many insurance providers that cater specifically to veterans offer benefits that help cover the costs of addiction treatment. However, one, in particular, stands out: Tricare Insurance.

What is Tricare Insurance?

Since the end of World War II, a series of changes were made over decades to the way military personnel are covered by insurance for substance use treatment. Tricare insurance plans were established years ago and were able to come to fruition due to the Department of Defense announcing plans for a nationwide healthcare program for veterans. It was decided that the U.S. would be divided into twelve healthcare regions, each with an administration and lead agent. It was called Tricare.

Tricare Alcohol Rehab Insurance has become more and more determined to provide greater access to healthcare for veterans with mental health and/or substance use disorders. If you or someone you know is a veteran with a mental health and/or substance use disorder seeking treatment, Tricare plans are likely your answer for insurance coverage.

Among others, the upgrades include:

  • Expanded treatment options for addicts, with special attention paid to opioid addicts
  • Inpatient (residential) treatment program coverage
  • Outpatient treatment program coverage
  • Inpatient/partial hospitalization coverage, both emergency and non-emergency
  • No longer having a limit on the number of times per week an addict can get help
  • Coverage for certain non-traditional treatment methods for opioid addicts

Tricare now boasts 9.4 million beneficiaries being treated in 54 military hospitals, 377 military medical clinics, and even 245 military dental clinics around the world, according to its website. The number of health providers accepting Tricare coverage is constantly on the rise.

As you can see from the list of upgrades above, there are different types of programs offered by rehab centers and treatment providers. It is important to know what they entail, especially as a veteran who may be facing concurrent disorders.

How is Tricare Different from a Typical Insurance Plan?

Tricare insurance is designed specifically for military service members and their families. Tricare offers many different plans, including Tricare Young Adult, Tricare Prime Remote, Tricare Retired Reserve, Tricare Reserve Select, and Tricare Select Overseas (previously known as Tricare Standard Overseas). Depending on which specific plan you qualify for, Tricare covers active duty service members and families, national guard/reserve members and families, retired service members and family members, medicare, survivors, former spouses, children, dependent parents, and more. 

Does Tricare Offer Inpatient Rehab?

If you have Tricare health insurance and want to know if inpatient rehab is covered under your specific plan, we recommend:

  1. Contacting the Tricare insurance company directly to determine if inpatient rehab is covered and what your potential out-of-pocket costs might be for treatment. 
  2. You can also contact a Quit Alcohol Advisor online or by calling (877) 683-2684. We can help answer your questions regarding TRICARE coverage and find an alcohol treatment center that will accept your insurance.

Does Tricare Pay for Rehabilitation?

As mentioned above, determining if Tricare health insurance will pay for your rehabilitation needs (whether inpatient/partial hospitalization programs or intensive outpatient programs) will depend on the exact insurance policy you have. Please feel free to contact a Quit Alcohol Advisor online or by calling (877) 683-2684 for assistance. We can help you discover which treatment facilities accept Tricare insurance (including Tricare Prime and Tricare Select, which is previously known as Tricare Standard). You can also contact your Tricare insurance provider directly to determine which addiction treatment and alcohol services are covered.

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Insurance and Rehab Costs

If you’re worried about how you’re going to pay for addiction treatment coverage, know that the Affordable Care Act made it mandatory for insurance companies to provide coverage for alcohol treatment/addiction treatment services, so you might be eligible. This includes Medicaid, Medicare, private coverage, military insurance (such as Tricare), and state health insurance. It will be very important that you know the terms in your policy, however. Some policies will only cover 30 days of inpatient treatment, for instance.

What if I am a Vet that qualifies for the Veterans Administration (VA) coverage?

The VA has a Behavioral Health program located in many of the VAMC facilities across the country. Call your local VAMC for details. Additionally, it has been reported that if your VA region does not have a Behavioral Health component, you may be eligible for a voucher to travel and enroll in a private facility specializing in the care you need. Once again, contact your local VAMC for details. Remember, this is not a policy that they broadcast, so you may need to keep asking and calling different administrators within your regional system.

Although grants and aid have become a thing of the past, there are still veteran organizations that provide care throughout the country. These are difficult to access as they are limited, but they are there for you if you are a Vet. If you know of any, please let us know here at QA so we can list them for other Veterans to access.

All in all, accessing services as a Vet is not an easy task, but it can be done. Don’t give up; push for what you deserve, and thank you for your commitment and service to our country!

Types of Rehab Programs

Before listing alcohol rehab program types, it should be mentioned that some treatment centers offer detox only, which is essentially sobering up physically with limited attention focused on the mental aspect. Simply detoxing can be cost-effective but is generally only recommended as an actual form of treatment for those who are first-time addicts and don’t show signs of potential repeated use. An example might be someone with no history of substance use who was given a legal prescription for opioid-based pain medication and through a series of unfortunate events, began using heroin. A detox could provide this person with sobriety, and given the lack of abusive tendencies, this person could very likely carry on living a sober life. That being said, very few addicts fall into this category. Here are the most common types of alcohol rehab treatment programs enrolled in.

Long-term Inpatient Treatment

Designed for the more severe of addictions, long-term inpatient alcohol rehab (AKA residential) treatment consists of round-the-clock care in a home-like facility, generally shared with a group of others. Stays can be as brief as three months or so or as long as a full year, sometimes longer. There is a fully trained staff available for any and all needs and plenty of activities designed to build the overall health of patients. When enrolled in long-term inpatient programs, you live at the facility for the entirety of your program, permitted only to leave the premises with the appropriate supervision.

Short-term Inpatient Treatment

Picture all of the care and amenities of long-term inpatient care, except more intensive, probably in a hospital-like setting, and only lasting 3-6 weeks, generally speaking. Aftercare is recommended following successful completion of higher levels of alcohol rehab care, but most adamantly with short-term inpatient programs. This greatly reduces the risk of relapse after leaving the residential setting.

Outpatient Treatment

If you don’t have the wherewithal to live in a substance abuse treatment facility for an extended period, outpatient treatment might be your best option. As opposed to living at the facility, you would attend for a designated amount of time on a regular schedule. There are levels of intensity, ranging from educational meetings or one-on-one sessions to rigorous treatment methods. Usually, outpatient treatment programs can be suited to your individual needs and requirements (including any mental health care requirements). Also, therapy of some form is often a major component.

Inpatient Hospitalization

In the most severe of addiction cases, inpatient hospitalization is offered, wherein a patient is hospitalized for however long it may take to safely detoxify and recover from the addiction’s withdrawal symptoms, some of which can be fatal. The main idea is to transition from hospitalization to a more normalized form of treatment, such as short-term inpatient and/or outpatient care. 

Outpatient Hospitalization

Also known as ‘partial hospitalization’ or ‘intensive outpatient treatment’, this type of program combines the benefits of a hospital-like environment and care level with the benefits of outpatient care, meaning one does not have to take up residence at the facility. Sessions are multiple times a week, sometimes 8 hours long.

Veterans and Addiction

A study published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine analyzed both the rate of substance use disorders (SUDs) among veterans and the challenges veterans face seeking treatment. The first two sentences of the study’s summary section hit home: “In summary, veterans demonstrate high rates of SUDs. There is a clear need for the development of novel, more effective, evidence-based interventions to address the health care needs of our veterans and their family members struggling with SUDs.”

Veterans are more likely than civilians to abuse and/or become addicted to substances. Consider the following and pardon the acronyms. Every year, SAMHSA, (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), conducts the NSDUH, (the National Survey on Drug Use and Health). The survey covers a vast array of associated data, one detail being the percentage of Americans age 12 or older who had used an illicit substance in the past 30 days. The most recent data available by SAMHSA states that 10.6% of said Americans had used a substance in the past 30 days, about 80% of whom had a SUD.

According to a separate, independent article on the SAMHSA website, the rate of veteran substance use disorder has been on the rise for decades.

Obstacles to Overcome

It’s not just the rate of addiction that’s higher among veterans than civilians. To absolutely no surprise, the rates of PTSD and depression are also higher. These two disorders are commonly associated with substance abuse, especially as a form of self-medication. There is a tendency for military personnel to take great pride, which sometimes makes it difficult to seek help if and when addicted. Now imagine this scenario with depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome.

No, not every military member becomes afflicted with such disorders, but most, if not all, of them spend significant amounts of time away from home, usually under stressful conditions. A large amount see wartime and are changed for life. This is why it is absolutely crucial for veteran addicts seeking treatment to choose the correct program – one that is equipped to deal with multiple concurrent disorders. Equally as important is the insurance provider chosen. The company must offer coverage for various services, programs, prescriptions, etc.