The Florida shuffle describes the recruitment of a

drug user A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...

with good health insurance to repeatedly attend various rehab centers and

sober living houses Sober living houses (SLHs), also called sober homes and sober living environments, are facilities that provide safe housing and supportive, structured living conditions for people exiting drug rehabilitation programs. SLHs serve as a transitional ...

, which allows the facilities to repeatedly bill the patient's insurance company. The treatment centers that participate in this may have little regard for the actual needs of the patient. While named after

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, the practice also occurs in other places in the United States, such as

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, with attractive climates and locations. A treatment center can earn more than US$40,000 each time a patient goes through their program.

Description

Frequently these users are sent to various rehab centers by brokers who work on a freelance basis for the centers. Brokers will use inducements like cash payments for time spent in rehab or free airfare in order to get drug users to a particular center. They will also sometimes supply the drug users with drugs so that the user will fail a urine test, allowing them to be admitted to the rehab center. Rehab centers will also use advertising on late-night television and social media in order to find potential patients. This process can continue until the user dies.

History

The regulation of Florida rehab centers stemmed from five Florida rehab centers bills. These five bills HB 807 (SB 788), HB 249 (SB 588), HB 477, HB 557 (SB 840), and SB 866 (HB 791). This practice started after the passage of the 2010

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...

(commonly known as Obamacare or the ACA) and the 1996

Mental Health Parity Act The Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) is legislation signed into United States law on September 26, 1996 that requires annual or lifetime dollar limits on mental health benefits to be no lower than any such dollar limits for medical and surgical be ...

. The ACA required insurers to pay for drug rehabilitation treatment as an essential health benefit. Rehab centers are able to bill insurance companies substantial amounts of money for routine tests, such as US$4,000 for a urinalysis test (sometimes facetiously referred to as "liquid gold") . According to insurance executives, it took several years to realize what was happening since urinalysis tests had never arisen as a billing issue before and the doctor-signed orders for the tests gave them an aura of medical authority. Many insurance companies are now cutting their reimbursement rates for drug tests. Both federal and state legislation have been passed to attempt to curb the practice. This includes California, Florida, and the Federal government through the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act. Florida has arrested 66 people under its law. These laws have resulted in the operators of some closed rehab centers relocating to different states without regulations or laws.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Drug rehabilitation Opioids in the United States