ABSTRACT

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, when paired with the Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equality Act of 2008, had the potential to change the way that treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs) was financed. Not until the passage of these two laws was it clearly mandated that health insurers were responsible for covering treatment for SUDs. Given these changes to coverage rules, this paper attempted to review early changes to the SUD treatment provision and payment. Although no significant change was found in payment by Medicaid or private insurance, it does appear as though centers were moving towards receiving more payments from these sources. Additionally, they are less dependent on block grant funding to cover treatment. This funding could be diverted to prevention or other activities. It was also found that there were very few, if any changes to adolescent treatment service provision over the time covered.

INDEX WORDS: Health reform, Affordable Care Act, Substance use disorder treatment, Financing