One phone call can rock your world

After two weeks with our son being away and getting treatment I was finally starting to feel good about things, that we had made the right decision, and that barring tough as nails judge our plan for keeping our son out of jail (90 days treatment, followed by a half-way house, then a sober house) was going to work out fine. Unfortunately, the insurance companies of this country do not feel that addiction and mental health issues should be treated the same way as any other serious illnesses. If they did, then I wouldn't have received the call this afternoon from the treatment center with the news that the insurance company has determined (under their guidelines) that our son was 'medically cleared' and they would now only pay for his treatment but not his room and board. I told the woman that she 'rocked my world', and not in a good way.

So, in order for our son to continue receiving the best care possible to cure his addiction and mental health issues, we are now responsible for his 'room and board', at a cost of $125 per day, or to put it bluntly, $3800 a month! I was prepared to pay the $3000 a month for his half-way house 'room and board', but that is not going to happen until late July. I was not prepared to now have to spend this money and more NOW.

I know, in the grand scheme of things, what's another $7600 that we really don't have. But seriously folks, if our son had cancer and needed to stay in the hospital for an extended period of time to receive treatment he would not be treated this way by the insurance companies of this country.

So today, well later today as it is 12:30am, we are going for our first Family Session at the center. We plan on meeting with the financial folks first to figure out the best way to pay for his continued care. It will be interesting to see what comes out of these sessions today. We have not spoken to our son for two weeks now, and have only received the one letter. This is the longest time we have not seen or heard from him, so I am curious to see how this is going to go. I wonder if he has accepted, or is going to accept, the fact that he is not coming home for awhile, if ever, and that he still has alot of work to do. We need to seperate him from his addictive influences (ie bad friends) and the longer he stays away from home the better off he will be and it will increase the chances of his permanent success.

If anyone reads this, please keep our family (especially our son) in your prayers.

Thanks.