A new report finds spending on Medicaid-covered prescriptions for the treatment of opioid use disorder and opioid overdose increased dramatically between 2011 and 2016, according to NPR. The largest increase occurred after 2014.
The number of people covered by the health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield who were diagnosed with an opioid addiction rose almost 500 percent from 2010 to 2016.
Inadequate access to opioid addiction treatment programs has led to a thriving black market for Suboxone, the drug that helps patients overcome their addiction, experts tell The Wall Street Journal.
The Republican health care plan, which would roll back the Affordable Care Act and reduce or terminate health coverage for millions of Americans, will deepen the nation’s opioid crisis, addiction experts tell the Los Angeles Times.
Family members of young people who have struggled with or died from opioid addiction say President Trump’s budget proposal, which would reduce funding for addiction treatment, runs counter to his promises to help solve the problem, the Associated Press reports.
The National Institutes of Health will partner with drug companies to spur research on new treatments for opioid addiction and pain medications that are not addictive, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s description of medication-assisted treatment for addiction as “substituting one opioid for another” is inaccurate, according to addiction experts who have asked Price to “set the record straight.”
