from alcohol, prescription pills, heroin, fentanyl, benzodiazepines, and
methamphetamines) follows the classic twenty-eight-day treatment
model. Hampton (2018) noted the twenty-eight-day model was created
in the 1950s by Dr. Daniel Anderson, who went on to become the
president of the famous treatment center, Hazeldon. He states, “Twentyeight
days at a treatment center was thought to be the minimum amount
of time needed to stabilize someone from acute detox and physical
withdrawal symptoms” (p.90). It was called the “Minnesota model” and
became the standard model of treatment in the U.S and still is to this
day. Most insurance companies pay for a month stay due to the twentyeight
days standard of care. This model has not been challenged or
changed in fifty years. The disease of addiction has progressed, yet the
model for treatment is what it was fifty years ago. Treatment centers
market ten days and thirty days as the cure-all, and it has become a
revolving door. There are some centers that offer ninety-day treatment
and suggest it, but most insurance companies will not pay for an
extended stay, so treatment centers become a revolving door, and they
are making billions of dollars. Most high-end treatment centers only take
private insurance and not state-funded insurance at all, which leaves
those treatment centers that do take it overrun, with long waiting lists to
get in. The trouble with that is, when someone agrees to go to treatment,
they need it ASAP and could die waiting to get in. I know this from
experience in trying to help my son get into treatment numerous times.