What is the Typical Methadone Clinic Cost?

Methadone’s long-standing history as an opiate addiction treatment has paved the way for certain advantages when it comes to treatment costs. As a government-regulated medication, methadone programs have a wide range of financial resources from which to draw.

Not surprisingly, methadone clinic costs can vary from state to state depending on the types of funding available from region to region. For this reason, average methadone clinic costs tend vary depending on provider type in terms of nonprofit versus for-profit providers and residential versus outpatient programs.

As out-of-pocket methadone clinic costs can easily deter people with limited financial resources, several low cost treatment options do exist.

Methadone Clinic Cost Factors

As of 2007, over 60 percent of people seeking drug treatment help had no form of health insurance to cover treatment costs, according to the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services. With no means for paying for treatment, more than a few people are left to battle opiate addiction on their own.

Methadone costs vary depending on the program and treatments.

Fortunately, methadone’s classification as a Schedule II narcotic places it under government regulation, which ultimately works to keep methadone clinic costs down. That being so, government-funding availability is based on a range of factors –

• Location of methadone facility
• Nonprofit versus for-profit status
• Residential versus outpatient program
• Patient income level
• Whether a person has health insurance coverage

For these reasons, typical methadone clinic costs can vary considerably from state to state and facility to facility. In effect, these factors determine overall out-of-pocket costs for anyone entering a methadone treatment program.

Average Costs – Residential versus Outpatient Treatment

According to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, over half of the 286,000 people admitted to methadone programs had to pay for treatment out-of-pocket in 2008. As residential programs offer a more intense level of treatment than outpatient program, methadone clinic costs can run considerably higher for residential programs.

For non-hospital residential treatment, methadone costs average around $76.13 per day. With outpatient methadone programs, daily costs average around $17.78 per day.

As some methadone clinics may offer a range of other services along with daily methadone treatments, costs likely run higher for programs offering methadone alone versus those offering a range of services. Since addiction has as much to do with psychological dependency as it does physical dependency, these added services can mean the difference between a successful recovery and a failed treatment attempt.

While not everyone may be able to afford the added costs involved, not getting the necessary level of treatment can actually cause a person more harm than good.

Low Cost Options

It’s no secret that opiate addictions leave many a person financially destitute by the time they enter drug treatment. With opiate addiction rates reaching epidemic proportions, government agencies have taken an active role in funding addiction treatment programs. These provisions work to reduce methadone clinic costs across the board.

More oftentimes than not, a methadone clinic program will base treatment costs on a sliding-fee scale for people with limited financial resources. Recent changes in health insurance laws have also included methadone treatment as a “medically necessary” benefit. This means most every type of health insurance policy will cover at least a portion of methadone treatment costs.