SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The number of drug and alcohol addicts in California who will be eligible for health insurance covering substance abuse treatment will rise by 1.5 times when federal health care reforms kick in next year.
Treatment providers are scrambling for ways to serve the wave of expected patients.
More than 95,000 people with drug and alcohol problems get treatment through Medi-Cal, California’s version of the Medicaid health care program for the poor.
At least 146,000 more are projected to become eligible for insurance coverage if Medi-Cal expands to cover people who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty rate under the health care overhaul.
The largest number of patients getting taxpayer-funded treatment for alcohol and drugs is in Los Angeles County.
