Former baseball star Strawberry looks to open drug and alcohol treatment …
ST. LOUIS — A Florida health care company wants to open a St. Louis County substance abuse rehabilitation center named for former Major League Baseball star Darryl Strawberry. The 51-year-old Strawberry played for the New York Mets and New York …
Read more on The Republic

Drug, Alcohol Clinics Stay Open Despite Fraud, Report Finds
A dozen drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinics that recently have been found to have committed fraudulent billing practices under the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program remain open in Los Angeles County, according to an analysis by the Center for …
Read more on California Healthline

Former baseball star to open drug treatment center
February 27. The Associated Press. ST. LOUIS — A Florida health care company wants to open a St. Louis County substance abuse rehabilitation center named for former Major League Baseball star Darryl Strawberry.
Read more on Kansas City Star

New substance abuse treatment resources focus on teens
Teens abuse different substances, experience different consequences, and are less likely to seek treatment on their own because they may not want or think they need help. Parents can work with health care professionals to find appropriate treatment …
Read more on HealthCanal.com

Faith-based treatment program works with men looking for an end to addiction
The Refuge, founded by Thompson in Vinton County to serve the region, is a 13-month Christian ministry during which men with drug or alcohol addiction rebuild their lives with structure, faith and self-sustainability. Many of the men have gone to rehab …
Read more on Chillicothe Gazette

Question by DAR: “since 1970 Medicare’s costs have risen 34% a year faster than the rest of health care”? Why would that be?
And what about this: ” Stanford University professor Scott Atlas points out that from 1998 to 2002 nearly twice as many new drugs were launched in the U.S. as in Europe. According the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry Report, some 2,900 new drugs are now being researched here. America’s five top hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other developed country, according to Mr. Atlas. And a McKinsey Co. study reports that 40% of all medical travelers come to the United States for medical treatment.”

What would Obamacare do to that?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124588632634150501.html
subwm, I agree with that, but why would costs billed through medicare go up faster than costs billed anywhere else? Something about government management, maybe?
This doesn’t relate to the sheer medicare budget but to treatments under medicare as compared to treatments not paid for under medicare.
subwm, I dont think insurance is the answer either. I think the faceless third party payer is what causes higher costs.
Some of these answers are really interesting.

Best answer:

Answer by subwm4bush
The ever growing number of people reaching retirement age and the soaring costs of health care.

Spending on Medicare and Medicaid is projected to grow dramatically in coming decades. While the same demographic trends that affect Social Security also affect Medicare, rapidly rising medical prices appear a more important cause of projected spending increases. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has indicated that: “Future growth in spending per beneficiary for Medicare and Medicaid—the federal government’s major health care programs—will be the most important determinant of long-term trends in federal spending. Changing those programs in ways that reduce the growth of costs—which will be difficult, in part because of the complexity of health policy choices—is ultimately the nation’s central long-term challenge in setting federal fiscal policy.” Further, the CBO also projects that “total federal Medicare and Medicaid outlays will rise from 4 percent of GDP in 2007 to 12 percent in 2050 and 19 percent in 2082—which, as a share of the economy, is roughly equivalent to the total amount that the federal government spends today. The bulk of that projected increase in health care spending reflects higher costs per beneficiary rather than an increase in the number of beneficiaries associated with an aging population.”

Karl Rove cherry picked his “facts”, as usual. More detail is needed. Here are more details Karl would prefer not to discuss in depth.

Medicare’s success. While in many ways private insurers and Medicare track similarly in per enrollee growth rate trends over time, Medicare has proven to be more successful than private insurance have in controlling the growth rate of health care spending per enrollee. Moreover, recent survey research has found that Medicare beneficiaries are generally more satisfied with their health care than are privately insured people under age sixty-five. Specific details and statistics can be found at the following link.

http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/22/2/230

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

New Substance Abuse Treatment Resources Focus on Teens
Resources to help parents, health care providers, and substance abuse treatment specialists treat teens struggling with drug abuse, as well as identify and interact with those who might be at risk, were released today by the National Institute on Drug …
Read more on eNews Park Forest

New Helpline Now Available for Teens Struggling with Substance Abuse
Now, thanks to Crestview Drug Rehab and Detox Helpline, teenage addicts have a reliable addiction and recovery resource at their disposal. There are many options available to teens who want to end their dependencies on drugs and alcohol. This new …
Read more on PR Web (press release)

Question by Evan: I NEED TO KNOW THE MONEY SPENT ON ALCOHOL REHABS YEARLY. RECENT AND RELIABLE PLZ.?
RECENT AND RELIABLE PLZ.

Best answer:

Answer by raysny
The most recent I could find for the US has the figures for 1997:

“A study shows that the U.S. spent a combined $ 11.9 billion on alcohol and drug abuse treatment, while the total social costs were more than $ 294 billion. The results were part of the National Estimates of Expenditures for Substance Abuse Treatment, 1997, which was released at the end of April by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

The report, prepared by the MEDSTAT Group for SAMHSA, examines how much is spent in the U.S. to treat alcohol and drug abuse, how that spending has changed between 1987 and 1997, how much of the spending is done by the private and public sectors, and how substance abuse expenditures compare to spending for mental health and other health conditions in the U.S.”
http://www.usmedicine.com/newsDetails.cfm?dailyID=54

In NY:
“States report spending $ 2.5 billion a year on treatment. States did not distinguish whether the treatment was for alcohol, illicit drug abuse or nicotine addiction. Of the $ 2.5 billion total, $ 695 million is spent through the departments of health and $ 633 million through the state substance abuse agencies. We believe that virtually all of these funds are spent on alcohol and illegal drug treatment.”
Source: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, Shoveling Up: The Impact of Substance Abuse on State Budgets (New York, NY: CASA, Jan. 2001), p. 24.

States Waste Billions Dealing with Consequences of Addiction, CASA Study Says
May 28, 2009

The vast majority of the estimated $ 467.7 billion in substance-abuse related spending by governments on substance-abuse problems went to deal with the consequences of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, not treatment and prevention, according to a new report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

The report, titled, “Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State and Local Budgets,” found that 95 percent of the $ 373.9 billion spent by the federal government and states went to paying for the societal and personal damage caused by alcohol and other drug use; the calculation included crime, health care costs, child abuse, domestic violence, homelessness and other consequences of tobacco, alcohol and illegal and prescription drug abuse and addiction.

Just 1.9 percent went to treatment and prevention, while 0.4 percent was spent on research, 1.4 percent went towards taxation and regulation, and 0.7 percent went to interdiction.

“Such upside-down-cake public policy is unconscionable,” said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA’s founder and chairman. “It’s past time for this fiscal and human waste to end.”

CASA estimated that the federal government spent $ 238.2 billion on substance-abuse related issues in 2005, while states spent $ 135.8 billion and local governments spent $ 93.8 billion. The report said that 58 percent of spending was for health care and 13.1 percent on justice systems.

Researchers estimated that 11.2 percent of all federal and state government spending went towards alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse and addictions and its consequences. The report said that Connecticut spent the most proportionately on prevention, treatment and research — $ 10.39 of every $ 100 spent on addiction issues — while New Hampshire spent the least — 22 cents.
http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2009/states-waste-billions-dealing.html

Key Findings

Of the $ 3.3 trillion total federal and state government spending, $ 373.9 billion –11.2 percent, more than one of every ten dollars– was spent on tobacco, alcohol and illegal and prescription drug abuse and addiction and its consequences.

The federal government spent $ 238.2 billion (9.6 percent of its budget) on substance abuse and addiction. If substance abuse and addiction were its own budget category at the federal level, it would rank sixth, behind social security, national defense, income security, Medicare and other health programs including the federal share of Medicaid.

State governments spent $ 135.8 billion (15.7 percent of their budgets) to deal with substance abuse and addiction, up from 13.3 percent in 1998. If substance abuse and addiction were its own state budget category, it would rank second behind spending on elementary and secondary education.

Local governments spent $ 93.8 billion on substance abuse and addiction (9 percent of their budgets), outstripping local spending for transportation and public welfare.¹

For every $ 100 spent by state governments on substance abuse and addiction, the average spent on prevention, treatment and research was $ 2.38; Connecticut spent the most, $ 10.39; New Hampshire spent the least, $ 0.22.

For every dollar the federal and state governments spent on prevention and treatment, they spent $ 59.83 shoveling up the consequences, despite a growing

Add your own answer in the comments!