About one in four addiction-treatment patients pay for their own care, but the majority of treatment stays are funded via public sources, according to a new study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Payment data from the 2005 Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) report showed that 23 percent of addiction patients self-pay, while 13 percent of stays are funded by Medicaid, 1 percent were paid by Medicare, and 35 percent came from other government sources.

More patients received no-charge care (free, charity, or research/treatment care) than had their treatment paid for by health insurance companies (4 percent) or Blue Cross/Blue Shield (2 percent). Workers' compensation funds paid for less than 1 percent of treatment, while 10 percent came from unspecified sources.

TEDS collects data from more than 614,000 treatment providers in the U.S.

The report said that Medicaid was more likely than other sources to pay for treatment of young, female, black, and unemployed patients. Medicaid patients also were more likely to cite marijuana as their primary drug of abuse, but less likely to name alcohol.