We report a study of re-equilibrium kinetics of an oppositely charged hydrogel-surfactant system (cationically modified hydroxyethyl cellulose (cat-HEC) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)) and an application of the formulation for delivery of a water-insoluble molecule. Hydrogels have been applied for long-term delivery of water-soluble drugs due to their controlled-release property. However, the release mechanism of drugs solubilized by surfactants has not been clear. In the present study, SDS was used to solubilize a hydrophobic model drug, and thereafter, by electrostatic interaction between cat-HEC and SDS, the solubilized model drug was loaded into two types of cat-HEC hydrogels with different charge density. We found that the charge density of the polymers had a crucial effect on the loading capacity, without affecting the re-equilibrium kinetics. By an elaborate design of the experiments, the release profiles were fitted with one-dimensional Fickian law where we found the diffusivity of the drug to be constant and comparable to free micelles over a wide region of surfactant concentrations. The observed long-term controlled diffusion is discussed from a thermodynamic point of view.