Addicts pay huge sums of money for private rehab services they don’t need, expert warns

Addicts are being charged huge sums of money for private rehabilitation services they do not need, one of the UK’s leading experts in the field has claimed.

The revelation follows a major scandal in 2018 when it was revealed that private companies, known as patient brokers, were posing online as free addiction counseling helplines and referring callers to expensive private rehab clinics.

At the time, addiction experts said many of these patients did not have problems serious enough to need such intensive treatment, which often costs up to £20,000.

Following the news, the search engine Google promised to ban online ads published by intermediaries.

However, Dr. Samantha Duggan, a behavioral psychologist who sits on a parliamentary committee on addiction treatment, says the brokers are still operating and have dozens of ads on Google.

“This should have been addressed years ago,” says Dr. Duggan. “If the Government can regulate real estate agents, it can do the same with rehab brokers.”

Almost 300,000 people in the UK receive treatment for drug or alcohol addiction on the NHS, while around 250,000 people have a gambling problem, but studies suggest there are many more with addiction problems who do not receive treatment. .

Experts say addicts who seek support online mistakenly believe that the expensive private addiction clinics promoted by these brokers are their best hope for treatment.

“These are desperate people and they can be manipulated and abused as a result of these unethical practices,” says Dr. Duggan.

Google said it was reviewing the profiles of brokers highlighted by this newspaper and removing those who violated its policies.

A spokesperson added that its “guidelines require companies to accurately reflect their businesses.”