Does Insurance Cover Suboxone?

When you or someone you love is contemplating treatment for addiction, a million and one things will go through your head. How will we ever get over this? How to manage the pain and sickness? How are we going to pay for this? If you're contemplating taking suboxone to overcome opioid addiction, then you might wonder whether insurance covers it. Here is where the costs of suboxone are explained for those interested, whether your insurance might cover all or part of the cost, and what else you can do if you're interested in Suboxone treatment.

Is Suboxone Covered By Insurance?

If you, or your loved one have an insurance policy, then check it, as there should be some coverage for addiction treatment. The more expensive your policy, the more will be covered. If you have a lower cost insurance policy, there may be some co-pay, where you will have to pay for a portion of it from your own pocket. One way or another, you should have some of the costs of Suboxone covered as a form of treatment.

Your insurance company will likely have a list of registered pharmacies where you can go to fill the Suboxone prescription, so check that carefully before you waste time going into any pharmacy. Not all pharmacies are licensed to dispense the drug.

If you don't have your policy on hand right now, here are some of the big insurance companies that do include cover for Suboxone treatment:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS)
• UMR
• Aetna
• Beacon
• Cigna
• Multi Plan
• United Health Care

If you don't see your insurance company on the list above, don't worry, it is not exhaustive. There are other companies that provide the cover required, simply check your policy or give your company a call to find out.

Why Would I Need Insurance For Suboxone?

On it's own, Suboxone isn't cheap. You will still need a prescription from a doctor, but you can buy the sub-lingual films from a pharmacist for cash. For Suboxone sublingual film (2 mg-0.5 mg) the price is roughly $158 for a supply of 30 film, depending on which pharmacy you go to. However, it is not likely to be much less. Don't try and buy Suboxone on the black market, as you don't know what you're getting.

If you'd like to check into a detox or rehab facility where Suboxone is used, there are some residential treatment facilities where it is part of the treatment that can charge around $8,000 per month. If this isn't an option for you, then there's no need to worry because there are other alternatives.

One of the good things about Suboxone is that you don't need constant surveillance to take it. Due to the fact that it's nearly impossible to get high from it, users can be trusted to take it responsibly. In this sense, it can be a cheaper way to pursue a life without addiction, especially if your insurance covers the cost of the medicine.

Why Should You Choose Suboxone?

If you are addicted to injecting opioids, then Suboxone can help you break that habit. Firstly, it will take away your cravings and you won't have to mess about with needles and doses anymore.

Your dosage is prepared and you take it in a daily dose or one every two days. Even if you take more, you won't get the same effects as you did with heroin, so there's little point in trying. Your habit with the needle goes away and you can return to some normal form of life, without having to spend every day chasing a high, or trying to get enough heroin so that you won't get sick.

If you've been addicted to prescription opioids, Suboxone means that you can come off the drugs you've been abusing and not have to endure a debilitating withdrawal. You can get back to a normal routine, without thinking about taking drugs. It's important that when you take Suboxone you realize this is only treating the physical side of the illness and you must figure out what lies beneath. Addiction is a psychological condition that can be very complex, and you may have some stuff to work through in order to really get better. Insurance packages now cover addiction as a chronic illness, so you will get some cover for medication, such as Suboxone, under your plan.

What's Different About Suboxone?

Suboxone is a medicine that has been specifically developed to treat opioid addiction. It is made with a combination of two drugs: buprenorphine and naloxone. Suboxone was approved for treatment of opioid addiction by the FDA in 2002. People who have tried other forms of treatment for their addiction often have more success with Suboxone, so it has been seen as somewhat of a wonder drug.

Some people argue that it's not real recovery when you are still taking an opioid to replace another opioid. It's true that when treating opioid addiction with another opioid, there is the potential for dependency. This has been seen with some people buying methadone on the black market.

However, when you have been abusing opioids for some length of time, the drugs have affected the receptors in your brain, so giving them up does not simply make you go back to normal. In fact, you will get very sick, which people who have tried to go cold turkey have quickly realized!

Suboxone is different to methadone, because it has a ceiling effect, thus users won't get high from it, no matter how much they take. The naloxone is an opioid antagonist that can reverse the effects of narcotics such as heroin and methadone.

This also means that the user cannot feel the euphoric effects of Suboxone, even if they try to use it in a way that's against doctor recommendations. Naloxone can cause a person to go into severe withdrawal if they abuse opioids. This helps prevent misuse of Suboxone.

Unlike methadone, which is frequently used in the treatment of opioid addiction, Suboxone is prescribed in a sublingual or tablet form and doctors can provide patients with a take-home dose of 30 days. It works on the nervous system to reduce cravings and users will not go into withdrawal as long as they adhere to their doctor's instructions.

Suboxone Offers Hope

Coming to terms with the fact that you or a loved one suffers from opioid addiction can be overwhelming. With deaths from overdoses at an all time high, it's vital to get someone in addiction into some sort of treatment, even if they have tried before.

You need to consider what treatment options might suit and the cost. If you have insurance, it will certainly cover some of the cost and it can be more successful than other ways that have been tried before. It's a long, hard road, and it can often seem like there's no good news. Suboxone offers people some hope, even if other treatment methods have failed.

If you have a loved one who has been suffering with opioid addiction, you can find out more about its benefits here. Your help and support while your friend or family member is trying to recover can be invaluable.