Medicaid.

[lulubean]

Has anyone here had any dealings with drug rehab/mental health, possibly inpatient treatment for drug addiction with medicaid (Florida).

[swamp]

Rick, medicaid is for poor people, medicare is for old people.

Naggie, I'm on a drug court team, so I have some familiarity with it, since the vast majority of the participants are on Medicaid. It's not FL, however.

[lulubean]

RICK....kiss my patootie.

Swamp can you tell me what you do know about it in NY. How does it work there if you want to be treated for drug addiction...inpatient probably.

[swamp]

it seems to be much more flexible than private insurance, but you are limited to the facilities that will accept it

for example, a guy was determined by counselors to need inpatient, but was privately insured, and the private insurance required him to try outpatient counseling first and fail at it a few times before they would pay for inpatient. with medicaid, if the medical professionals say that hospitalization is required, they pay for it. there may be time limits, like 30 or 60 days, though.

so, basically, you enroll in medicaid, get an evaluation, and find a facility that accepts medicaid.

[lulubean]

Ok, so I was thinking to get her into a primary care practitioner and go from there.

[swamp]

the eval usually has to be from a mental health professional or a CASAC (certified alcohol and substance abuse counselor). The PCP may be a good referral person.

does your county have a mental health/chemical dependency agency?

[lulubean]

She is down in Cape Coral, she said she has medicaid but I think there are a few plans and I don't know which one she has. I am in Jacksonville. I was thinking a PCP could point her in the right direction.

[wvugurl26]

For Florida Medicaid it depends on where she is. A few areas have managed care and the rest of the state has what we know as traditional Medicaid. I'm not sure if Cape Coral is one of the managed care areas or not. That alone is going to make a difference in what she needs to do.
The best thing to do would be to call your state Medicaid office and ask. Medicaid varies by state and NY state in particular covers a lot of services that other states do not. I've about fallen off my chair a few times hearing the things NY will cover. My experience with Medicaid is limited to the prescription drug piece of it.

[wvugurl26]

www.dcf.state.fl.us/samh/
There's the link for the substance abuse people in Florida. They may also be able to point you in the right direction.

[lulubean]

Thanks for the info Swamp and WV.