Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are the gold standard for treatment – decades of research demonstrate their effectiveness in treating addiction and saving lives. But in 2025, less than 16% of people with opioid use disorder received MOUD. Consistently, cost/insurance is cited as a major barrier to treatment.
Addiction treatment is often prohibitively expensive without insurance coverage, and insurance practices can sometimes create barriers that can prevent or delay treatment. For example, prior authorization requires patients to receive approval from the health plan for prescribed care or medication, which can leave patients waiting for days to get treatment. With substance use disorder, prompt treatment is critical. Windows in which individuals with addiction seek treatment can be short. When care is delayed, people may continue or return to substance use, which with the particularly deadly drug supply, can be fatal. Medicaid is the the largest payer of mental health and substance use services and provides coverage to nearly half of nonelderly adults with opioid use disorder, making it particularly important to address this barrier in Medicaid.
The No Red Tape for Addiction Treatment Act would help ensure access to medication treatment without dangerous delays. The bill would require that all state Medicaid programs cover at least one formulation of each FDA-approved medication for opioid use disorder without prior authorization, including long-acting injectable options when available. It would also require the Medicaid and CHIP Payment Advisory Commission to issue a report to Congress examining how states use utilization management controls (e.g., dosing limits, age restrictions, counseling requirements, psychological screening) for MOUD, and how these controls may burden clinicians, as well as other state or federal Medicaid policies that hinder access to treatment.
Bureaucratic barriers should not prevent people from accessing needed treatment. Ask your senators to support the No Red Tape for Addiction Treatment Act to provide faster access to proven treatment and prevent interruptions in care for people with opioid use disorder in Medicaid.