NJ Spotlight published the following article on February 4, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
ACA REQUIRES PARITY BETWEEN MENTAL, PHYSICAL DISORDERS — WILL INSURERS COMPLY?
CAREN CHESLER | FEBRUARY 4, 2014
From the time he was 18 years old, Salvatore Marchese was trying to get treatment for his drug addiction. He bounced around from rehab facility to rehab facility but was always let go after 11 days because his insurance company wouldn’t cover treatment for longer than that.
In June of 2010, at the age of 26, Marchese was finally approved for state funding for treatment, but once again, his treatment was cut short after less than two weeks because his funding ran out. He was released, despite paperwork stating that he was a high risk for relapse. Three months later, he was found slumped in his car in Camden, dead, the apparent victim of a heroin overdose.
“We always struggled with insurance trying to get approvals, but there was never enough funding and/or beds to take him,” his mother, Patty DiRenzo of Blackwood, wrote on an online website called Shatterproof. “He wanted help desperately but sadly never received the help he needed and deserved.”
While the Affordable Care Act mandates that insurance companies cover treatment for drug and alcohol addiction just as they would cover treatment for any other health condition, like diabetes or cancer, addiction specialists are still skeptical that kind of parity is going to happen, particularly for acute cases, like that of Marchese, which may require inpatient care.