We would just like to inform any South African that is currently paying for medical aid, that
Substance Abuse Treatment is part of their ANNUAL BENEFIT!!! This means that if anyone who
suffering from addiction and don’t have the financial means to pay for private rehab.
It is just obtaining a code from medical aids that gives members “authority”-licence-
permission-consent to book into a particular centre/facility/hospital. It allows the
centre/practice/hospital to claim for the service, without the member having to fork money out
in their personal capacity. This includes any dependents that are on the same medical aid.
The medical aid schemes cover between 21-24 days on most plan types. It is actually a pleasant
experience and a time of learning about yourself. In support of the medical team, staff
communicate with medical service providers and the medical aids, as best they can to ensure
that the needs of the client are met in terms of medication and other consultations during inpatient
treatment. They are made fully aware of where their money is going (in the event that they
query a particular expense) and there are no surprises. The better the staff equip the clients as
to know what to expect, the better the transition into their recovery. Finance does play a role
and it is in the client’s best interest to know what’s for what, who’s for who etc.
The question of where a person should go after detox and primary rehab comes up a lot in Cape
Town. Many rehabs do offer rehab aftercare when the person leaves but only one session, once
a week and attendance tend to be quite low, obviously, the individual’s motivation is the most
important factor here but this simply isn’t adequate support. The addiction usually took a
substantial length of time to reach a crisis point, so a full recovery simply is not feasible in a period
of 21 days or a month. Whenever it is possible, and this actually saves money in the long run, is
that some sort of extended care or continued care is vitally important. We often find people
coming to us for some true and impartial advice about the next step of their own, or a loved
one, recovery journey. There is a worrying tendency at the moment, as medical aid only
recognises and pays for primary rehab treatment or even just the short detox period, for most
clients to leave without any proper guidance or follow-up. Again, this is simply setting people up
to fail and is not helpful when looking at recovery as a lifelong thing. This is, of course, an
advantage to the many primary rehab centres as they get repeat customs from people relapsing
and returning for another month’s stint, placing lives at risk. Repeated trips to rehab have
become, unfortunately, a common occurrence, however, the chance of this can easily be
lessened by putting a proper follow-up plan in place and continuing the journey with a period at
a good quality secondary rehab, tertiary rehab or a stay in a fully supported sober living
accommodation. Even if this is not financially possible, as is often the case, we can always at the
very least, advise on meetings to attend and things to do in order to keep working on the
person’s recovery and to help prevent relapse. We are also working hard to make sober living
more affordable and always seeking funding for sponsored and part-sponsored beds in our
remarkable sober living homes. We only work with the best options for all types of extended
care (continued care), treating any addiction, process addiction, dual-diagnosis issue or eating
disorder.
You do actually have choices for all extended care and continued care after rehab. We have the
best secondary rehab, tertiary rehab and sober living accommodation in Cape Town, to suit the
individual requirements of the client.