How Psychedelic Treatments Can Become Accessible, Affordable
As the psychedelic industry continues to grow and more is discovered about these compounds and the benefits they hold, concern about whether these treatments will be affordable by the general public increase as well.
Last week, Imperial College London research associate Balázs Szigeti stated on Twitter that the lengthy hours needed for psychedelic-assisted therapy would increase the cost of these treatments, making this treatment option more expensive than SSRI treatments, which are cheaper and widely available. This sparked a discussion on what could be done to make psychedelic-assisted therapy equitable and affordable, with safe supply, commercialization, having trained professionals and scalability being some of the options that individuals brought up.
Currently, psychedelic-assisted treatments are a bit on the high side. For instance, ketamine-assisted therapy to be administered during a three-month period averages about $6,000, which is only affordable by the privileged few.
Enthea, a nonprofit health plan administrator, helps health care providers, patients and employers work out insurance plans to facilitate coverage for psychedelic-assisted therapy. The organization’s goal is to offer affordable and safe access to psychedelic-assisted healthcare. This makes Enthea one of the few companies to do so, as insurance companies are still not offering coverage for psychedelics because they still classified as controlled substances. This classification has continued to hold up despite mainstream attention on the use of psychedelics as alternative treatments for a range of mental health conditions growing.
Some companies, such as Optimi Health, Psygen and Filament Health, are hoping to help with the affordability issue by increasing the safe supply of psychedelics, including MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms.
Many believe that less regulatory restrictions could help companies scale the supply of these psychedelics more efficiently and reduce the cost of therapy. However, it may be a while before this is realized.
The long hours of administration and lack of trained professionals also increase the cost of the treatment, which emphasizes the need to increase the numbers of well-trained professionals to administer these treatments while maintaining high standards with respect to the qualifications of therapists to ensure patient safety in addition to finding ways to administer the treatment safely without affecting its effectiveness.
Experts believe that in the long run, the costs of these treatments will decrease, especially since they produce results more quickly and those results last longer. At the moment, however, these high costs will deprive everyday patients and those from marginalized communities access to these alternative options until such a time that companies operating in the space, such as Delic Holdings Corp. (CSE: DELC) (OTCQB: DELCF) open shop and bring the costs down as supply increases.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Delic Holdings Corp. (CSE: DELC) (OTCQB: DELCF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/DELCF
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the PsychedelicNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by PNW, wherever published or re-published: https://www.PsychedelicNewsWire.com/Disclaimer
As the psychedelic industry continues to grow and more is discovered about these compounds and the benefits they hold, concern about whether these treatments will be affordable by the general public increase as well.
Last week, Imperial College London research associate Balázs Szigeti stated on Twitter that the lengthy hours needed for psychedelic-assisted therapy would increase the cost of these treatments, making this treatment option more expensive than SSRI treatments, which are cheaper and widely available. This sparked a discussion on what could be done to make psychedelic-assisted therapy equitable and affordable, with safe supply, commercialization, having trained professionals and scalability being some of the options that individuals brought up.
Currently, psychedelic-assisted treatments are a bit on the high side. For instance, ketamine-assisted therapy to be administered during a three-month period averages about $6,000, which is only affordable by the privileged few.
Enthea, a nonprofit health plan administrator, helps health care providers, patients and employers work out insurance plans to facilitate coverage for psychedelic-assisted therapy. The organization’s goal is to offer affordable and safe access to psychedelic-assisted healthcare. This makes Enthea one of the few companies to do so, as insurance companies are still not offering coverage for psychedelics because they still classified as controlled substances. This classification has continued to hold up despite mainstream attention on the use of psychedelics as alternative treatments for a range of mental health conditions growing.
Some companies, such as Optimi Health, Psygen and Filament Health, are hoping to help with the affordability issue by increasing the safe supply of psychedelics, including MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms.
Many believe that less regulatory restrictions could help companies scale the supply of these psychedelics more efficiently and reduce the cost of therapy. However, it may be a while before this is realized.
The long hours of administration and lack of trained professionals also increase the cost of the treatment, which emphasizes the need to increase the numbers of well-trained professionals to administer these treatments while maintaining high standards with respect to the qualifications of therapists to ensure patient safety in addition to finding ways to administer the treatment safely without affecting its effectiveness.
Experts believe that in the long run, the costs of these treatments will decrease, especially since they produce results more quickly and those results last longer. At the moment, however, these high costs will deprive everyday patients and those from marginalized communities access to these alternative options until such a time that companies operating in the space, such as Delic Holdings Corp. (CSE: DELC) (OTCQB: DELCF) open shop and bring the costs down as supply increases.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Delic Holdings Corp. (CSE: DELC) (OTCQB: DELCF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/DELCF
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the PsychedelicNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by PNW, wherever published or re-published: https://www.PsychedelicNewsWire.com/Disclaimer
