美国国家公共电台 NPR Beach Town Tries To Reverse Runaway Growth Of 'Sober Homes'

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

The nation's epidemic¹ of opioid abuse has created new opportunities for insurance fraud. Health care insurance pays for the costs of recovery. That's led to a boom in residential² treatment programs for addicts³, some of which use deceptive⁴ marketing⁵, fraudulent claims and what's known as patient brokering⁶. In South Florida, that's led to a runaway⁷ growth of residential programs for recovering addicts called sober homes. From Delray Beach, NPR's Greg Allen reports.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE⁸: Delray Beach is a small Florida community with a charming downtown, palm trees and waves. It attracts locals, vacationers and increasingly addicts, who come here to try to get off opioids. In some parts of town, there's a sober home on nearly every block and sometimes two or three. On this block, where Michelle Siegel was walking a dog, there are at least six sober homes.

MICHELLE SIEGEL: You can usually tell. A lot of times, they have the white vans in front. And they have the do-not-trespassing signs. But I have walked down the street sometimes and seen kids just passed out, face down on the - and you ask them if they're OK. And they're like, yeah, yeah, I was just tired. I was sleeping. And you don't know whether you should get them help, whether you leave them alone.

ALLEN: As group homes for people recovering from addictions⁹, sober homes are protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act, also, the Fair Housing Act. Those federal laws have made it difficult for local communities to limit or otherwise regulate sober homes. The state attorney for Palm Beach County, Dave Aronberg, says while there are many legitimate¹⁰ sober homes, there are also many others operated by unscrupulous providers. Aronberg says they tap into insurance money, offering free rent and getting kickbacks¹¹ from outpatient drug treatment centers, a scheme known as patient brokering.

DAVE ARONBERG: The outpatient treatment center van picks your residents up three times a week to go drug test them, which is then billed to insurance at very high rates.

ALLEN: Treatment centers bill insurance companies not just for drug tests but also for other services like group counseling, even acupuncture¹². And they share the money with people supplying the patients.

ARONBERG: In return, you, as a sober homeowner, can get a nice check for the patient brokering - is what you've done.

ALLEN: Although they're there for recovery, residents of sober homes often find heroin¹³ and other drugs available.

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COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: Rescue 111, responding to area 111.

ALLEN: Delray Beach EMS Captain Matt Pearce says crews responded to more than 1,300 overdose calls last year, many at sober homes.

MATT PEARCE: We respond there sometimes repeatedly in the same shift. Just last night, they responded to the same sober home two times within 10 minutes, both for overdoses.

ALLEN: With a cost of $2,500 for each EMS call, it's put a strain on the city's budget. Much worse is the human toll¹⁴. Countywide, nearly 600 people died of overdoses last year. It's a problem for Delray Beach and for addicts, who Aronberg says are often lured¹⁵ by marketers to South Florida on false pretenses¹⁶.

ARONBERG: They make the individual on the other line think that they're a doctor and they're diagnosing them, when in reality, they're only reading from a script given to them by the treatment center that's paying them.

ALLEN: Rather than a recovery model, Aronberg says unscrupulous sober homes and treatment centers operate on a relapse cycle, which brings clients back time and again for treatment covered by health insurance.

NEILL TIMMONS: You know, I'm in recovery myself, six years next month.

ALLEN: Neill Timmons runs four sober homes in another Palm Beach County community, Boynton Beach. Like other reputable operators, he doesn't receive payments through arrangements with drug treatment centers. He says for someone going through recovery, landing in a good sober home can make all the difference.

TIMMONS: They're not certain, you know, if they want to stay sober the rest of their lives or return back to use. And they're, you know, just struggling with what they need to do in order - if they do want to stay sober, so, I mean, a good sober support to really guide and give them some guidance towards recovery.

ALLEN: Timmons and others who run good sober homes want more regulation. Florida's governor recently signed a law increasing the penalties for patient brokering and deceptive marketing. A study commissioned by Delray Beach found at least 250 sober homes in a town of just 60,000, about a quarter of them operating under the city's radar¹⁷. Mayor Cary Glickstein is no fan of the drug recovery industry, sober homes and the problems, he says, they brought to his city.

CARY GLICKSTEIN: Patient brokering, drug trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution - it's a Pandora's box of problems that the unscrupulous operators bring to a community.

ALLEN: Delray Beach has just adopted a new ordinance¹⁸ that requires sober homes to be certified¹⁹ by an independent trade association. After adopting a similar ordinance, officials in Prescott, Ariz., say the number of sober homes in their community is now a third of what it once was. Greg Allen, NPR News, Delray Beach, Fla.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY'S "HUMAN QUALITIES")

1 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

2 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

3 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

4 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

5 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

6 brokering   

v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的现在分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• Intertwined with these were rivalry, power brokering, and patronage. 然而也不乏有抗争、强权操纵与任命特权交织其中。 来自互联网
• Kingston Quest Can Assist Your Company In Negotiations, Brokering, Agency Services, Sourcing Factories Or Property. 金士顿追求，可帮助您的公司在谈判中，经纪，代理服务，货源工厂或财产。 来自互联网

7 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 addictions   

瘾( addiction的名词复数 )； 吸毒成瘾； 沉溺； 癖好

参考例句：

• He has removed the stigma of drug addictions. 他已经洗去吸毒的污点了。
• Intelligent people are good at using reason to control excessive addictions. 智慧的人善于用理性来控制过度的嗜欲。

10 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

11 kickbacks   

n.激烈反应( kickback的名词复数 )；佣金，回扣

参考例句：

• Everyone at City Hall is receiving kickbacks. It's the only way to get anything done there. 市政府里的每个人都收回扣，在那里只有送红包，事情才办得成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• G raft or kickbacks paid to officials or law enforcem ent authorities. 暗中付给官员或执法人员的回扣。 来自互联网

12 acupuncture   

n.针灸，针刺法，针疗法

参考例句：

• Written records show that acupuncture dates back to the Song Dynasty.文字记载表明，宋朝就已经有了针灸。
• It's known that acupuncture originated in China.众所周知，针灸起源于中国。

13 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

14 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

15 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

16 pretenses   

n.借口（pretense的复数形式）

参考例句：

• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism. 他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He obtained money from her under false pretenses. 他巧立名目从她那儿骗钱。 来自辞典例句

17 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

18 ordinance   

n.法令；条令；条例

参考例句：

• The Ordinance of 1785 provided the first land grants for educational purposes.1785年法案为教育目的提供了第一批土地。
• The city passed an ordinance compelling all outdoor lighting to be switched off at 9.00 PM.该市通过一条法令强令晚上九点关闭一切室外照明。

19 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。