How Much Does Rehab Cost?

If you’ve read newspapers on a regular basis, then you will likely be familiar with the seemingly never-ending list of celebrities who ‘check in’ to rehab. It’s likely most people reading this will have only learned about the existence of rehab clinics via reading these types of stories.

Reading these stories may leave an impression that going to rehab is an exclusive resort of the rich and famous. If you or a loved one suffer from an addiction to drugs or alcohol, then you may be put off due to an assumption that you just won’t be able to afford the fees.

This assumption is generally incorrect. At Rehab 4 Alcoholism, we have partnered with a range of rehab clinics up and down the country who offer affordable addiction treatment to ‘normal’ people just like yourself.

Whilst there does exist ‘luxury rehab’ clinics, the vast majority of rehabs in the United Kingdom cater for the needs (and budget) of the majority of everyday normal people.

The length of rehab treatment

As a rule of thumb, the cost of attending an addiction rehab clinic will increase with the amount of time you spend within the clinic. If you require a quick one-week detox, going to rehab will work out less than say a four-to-six week inpatient programme.

However, if you opt for short-term treatment lasting for under a week, you are more likely to experience relapse following the completion of treatment. Following relapse, you may then elect to undergo a longer programme. This may mean you would have saved money if you would have selected a longer running rehab programme from the outset.

What happens during rehab treatment?

The majority of rehab clinics in the United Kingdom will encourage you to remain in their care for at least one month. These programmes are classically referred to as ’28 day programmes’. During this time, you will undertake a detox, rehab therapy and finally, you will return to the rehab clinic for ‘aftercare’ sessions.

If you do not stay in a rehab clinic for a sufficient amount of time, you will not receive enough therapy necessary for helping you achieve your medium and long-term recovery goals.

Below, we outline exactly what you should expect to receive during your rehab treatment:

• Detox: when you are addicted to alcohol and some types of drugs, you are said to suffer from a ‘physical dependency’. To help combat withdrawal symptoms in a safe yet effective manner, you must undertake a medically assisted detox. This occurs from day 1 when you enter the rehab clinic, and a detox usually requires around 7-14 days to complete, depending upon the severity of your addiction to either drugs or alcohol
• Therapy: both during and following your detox, you will sit in one-to-one and group therapy sessions. Therapy may take days, weeks or even months to ‘kick-in’. Therapy is purely psychological in nature, so it is difficult to give an accurate estimation regarding when therapy should be considered ‘done’. Generally, the longer you invest in therapy, the better. Therapy is rarely effective when it is offered over only a week or two.
• Aftercare: aftercare is essentially therapy sessions offered on an outpatient basis. You will attend therapy sessions on an outpatient basis following the completion of residential care

Types of rehab clinics

Another factor that affects the price of going to rehab is the type of rehab clinic you attend. Here, we assume you wish to attend a residential rehab clinic. This means we shall not discuss outpatient on home-based treatment providers in our discussion. Furthermore, we assume that rehab clinics encompass providers of detox and post-detox rehabilitation services.

The vast majority of modern rehab clinics offer both detox and rehabilitation services, so the distinction between the two is rendered obsolete, at least for the purposes of this current discussion.

The main two types of residential rehab include quasi-residential rehab and full residential rehab. Quasi-residential rehab is the cheaper option. Why? Because quasi-residential rehab means you will sleep within ‘sober living’ housing during the night, and then return to the ‘rehab proper’ during the day to undergo therapy sessions.

In contrast, full residential rehab means you will sleep, eat and undergo therapy sessions in one single location for the entire rehab programme’s length. Whilst full residential rehab may cost more than a quasi-residential programme, you will generally receive a superior quality of care. The risk of relapsing whilst at rehab is also dramatically cut when you attend a full residential rehab clinic.

Why isn’t rehab free?

For some, the idea of paying for rehab is unacceptable. Many equate rehab with medical assistance. These people thus conclude that rehab should be available through the NHS. Whilst we do not disagree with this sentiment, the reality is that for the vast majority of people suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction, public funding will simply not be available.

The private rehab industry has effectively filled the gap left by Government funding cuts in this area. These rehab clinics charge for their services because they incur costs themselves in the running of their clinics. Many rehab clinics are charities. This means there is no element of profit incorporated into the costs you pay. This generally keeps the cost of going to a rehab to a minimum.

The vast majority of costs absorbed in rehab fees include costs associated with:

• Feeding clients
• Employing quality therapists
• Utilities
• Housing costs and building rent
• Insurance
• Regulatory compliance
• Medications

What is the cost of going to rehab?

The average cost of going to rehab is around £1,000 per week. Some clinics will charge far more, whilst some clinics will charge less. Some clinics charge up to £5,000 per week for a ‘luxury’ experience, although these ‘extras’ do not necessarily correspond with improved odds of staying in recovery once the recovery goal is obtained. Treatment success is linked to many facts, not least the motivation of the individual undergoing the treatment.

The benefits of paying for rehab yourself

Many people have their rehab costs funded by their parents. Unfortunately, many of these same people take it for granted that their parents will continue to fund their treatment, and so they believe that relapsing is not a problem because their parents will simply cough up more money to send them back to rehab. In contrast, if you pay for rehab yourself via your own funds or by taking out finance, you are more likely to avoid relapse because you understand the personal and financial costs of doing so.

How to fund rehab costs?

Whilst funding rehab is within the reach of many, it is perhaps unwise and unpractical to say that going to rehab is inexpensive. Fortunately, many rehab clinics offer payment plans and finance. Paying for rehab via finance may be beneficial because if you pay for rehab yourself, you are much more likely to value every second you spend in the rehab clinic.

Another option is to pay for rehab via health insurance. You may learn more about this option by contacting us today on 0800 111 4108.