What does treatment actually cost?

Almost no facility in America publishes a price, and no public register records one. Without a published price, two facilities are hard to compare, and the same stay can be billed differently depending on who is paying.

Costs vary widely. Publicly funded outpatient care can be free. Private residential programs can cost many thousands of dollars a month, and some facilities ask for payment before admission. That is why the questions below come first.

The questions to ask, before you pay anything

Ask these on the first call and write the answers down. A facility that will not answer them plainly is telling you something.

1. What is the total for the full stay? Not the daily rate — the number you will actually pay. A daily rate multiplied out is not the same as a quote.
2. How much is due before admission, and what is refundable on early departure? Early departure is common. Find out now what happens to the money.
3. What is not included? Medication, laboratory work, psychiatry, transport and detox are frequently billed separately.
4. If insurance denies after admission, who pays the balance? Pre-authorization is not a guarantee of payment. Ask what happens if cover is refused on day nine.
5. Is the facility in-network, out-of-network, or neither? "We work with your insurance" is not the same as being in-network.
6. What happens if the stay runs longer than planned? Ask for the extension rate in writing.

What to be wary of

Free flights, waived copays, or an offer to pay someone's insurance premium are not generosity — paying for a patient is illegal in several states and a strong signal about how the facility makes its money. Be equally careful with anyone who quotes a price before asking a single clinical question.

Why we can't tell you this facility's price

We publish every fact we can source and date. Price is one of the few things no public record holds — not the state license file, not the federal service register, not the accreditation bodies. So on every facility page we say that plainly rather than leave a blank. If a facility publishes its prices, we will add them, attributed and dated.

Once cost is sorted out: twelve questions worth asking and what the levels of care actually mean.