your concerns are in fact legitamate and what you say is so right,the politicians wont get many votes for keeping a methadone clinic alive ,he will get many many votes for shutting one down.
I have only been on 1 state run clinic and it was free and was along time ago,since then its been 220 dollars every 4 weeks since then until recently when i stated seeing a pain management dr and its now $12 a mnt I dont think the govt regs would allow them to just leave you out in the cold but you could be referred to a private clinic which costs more.good luck,and lets hope things dont go that far.
gene

Folks dealing with chronic pain as well as drug addiction receive methadone at Comprehensive Care for medicated assisted treatment. , Why can't they get the funding needed and stay in business? Methadone works, it's cheap and helps your community. There's only a few states left that do not offer Methadone clinics. I don't want to see the number of street drugs and users grow in Lexington Kentucky like it will if the methadone clinic is closed. A methadone clinic is a huge asset for a city or town and not a liability in any way.

A few quotes from the article:

The centers lost $3.5 million in state funding earlier this year and could face an additional $4 million cut as Beshear (The Ky state Governor) considers asking for 4 percent reductions from state agencies to stave off a projected $456 million shortfall in state revenues

-We use up all of our (state funding) in a few months," said Shannon Ware, vice president of administration and operations for Bluegrass.


Bluegrass receives approximately $14.5 million a year from the state. But last year, Bluegrass gave away $7 million in charity care because state funding, which helps pay for those who cannot pay minimum fees, dried up. Medicaid, a health insurance program for poor and disabled people, pays for many psychiatric services. However, the state has kept its reimbursement rates — the amount it pays clinics — for Medicaid frozen for eight years.


"We are providing care at a level that we are not being reimbursed for," Ware explained - Its budget was cut by more than $400,000 earlier this year. A 4 percent cut would mean an additional $500,000 cut for Bluegrass.

A good idea would be to stay in contact with the CSAT<Center for Substance Abuse Treatment> and stay on them about your fears. The more patients and concerned family members that contact them the better. You can google CSAT and find their web site. There is a place where you can contact them from that site.
This is a real fear as things like Mental health,Alcohol treatment and Substance Abuse are always the 1st thing to get cut in any budget.


LP

I have heard there are Methadone clinic that are "funded" and it's a lot cheaper than ours. I live in Eastern KY., and I started the Methadone clinic 5 1/2 years ago. At the time, I didn't know there was one in Lexington, so I started in Huntington, W.Va. The clinic fees there are $101.50 a week. To some that may not sound like much, but it's quite a bit when you have to travel 1 1/2 to 2 hours each way. The gas prices have killed us! It's all we could do to stay in treatment, but I guess where there's a will there's a way. The only thing I have heard of is when I first started the clinic they had a program that would pay all of it for like 6 months, then you had to go thru the process and paperwork again. My Husband and I started together (he has since quit), and it was so hard paying for 2 clinic bills and the gas every day for the first 90 days. Anyway, the Admin. informed me about the only way to get help was to be in a homeless shelter. Don't get me wrong--I feel so sorry for anyone homeless. But if you live in a homeless shelter, you don't have groceries to buy or utilitiy bills to pay. So the way I see it is the people who are not homeless were having it a lot harder to stay in treatment than the homeless ones. And the homeless shelter even had a van bring them for their dose everyday. Please don't take me the wrong way. I have a big heart, and my heart really goes out to the homeless. But some of us who have a home need help too.

Just be glad your not in CA when it comes to cost. If you don't have medi-cal,which covers your treatment,then your paying close to 4 hundred bux a month. There are large corps that own programs here and all they care about is the money. Corporations like CRC Health and AEGIS it's all about the money and if your late no medication. I have never heard of any type of medical care, where medication is involved , that patients are treated in such a manner. A very cheap medication at that! So what are we paying for? To be watched while we pee,now isn't that what parole or probation officers do? No place in medical care at all! To be treated like a 5 yr old who doesn't know how to take their medicine? I could go on and on,but I'm playing Mafia wars over at myspace. Just wanted to drop in and see what wasup...


LP

please do go on and on I can't stand the way they treat us I get angry every time I go there