Illustration by Gary Locke, MarketWatch
Roughly 23 million Americans are addicted to alcohol or drugs, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a federal agency. And while SAMHSA says only 2.5 million Americans are undergoing treatment, that’s already enough to support a sizable industry , with more than 14,500 facilities for drug addiction alone, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In all, rehab clinics are about a $19 billion business, according to market researcher IBISWorld, including inpatient, outpatient and mental-health facilities. And with the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) expanding coverage for addiction services, the industry could be poised for significant growth in the coming years.
But regardless of the many testimonials — Betty Ford, the First Lady who famously went on to help found the Betty Ford Center, an addiction facility in California, said “I know firsthand that treatment does work” — rehab doesn’t always work in the long term. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates the relapse rate among drug addicts to be 40% to 60%. Some addiction experts say rehab centers are partly to blame. In her 2013 book “Inside Rehab,” Anne M. Fletcher, an award-winning health and medical writer who’s devoted several years to researching treatment for substance abuse, paints a picture of an industry that relies too much on one-size-fits-all methods and that often employs a workforce that’s less than up to the job. “There’s a great deal of inconsistency in the quality of care provided across programs,” Fletcher writes.
Comments (0)