Medicaid Expansion Essential to Address Opioid Epidemic
Some Affordable Care Act (ACA) critics claim that its Medicaid expansion is fueling the opioid epidemic by giving Medicaid beneficiaries access to prescription opioid medications, but they've got it backwards. In reality, the Medicaid expansion has provided a critical lifeline for people with substance use disorders. As
While the rate of drug-related deaths is higher in states that expanded their Medicaid programs than non-expansion states, that disparity became evident way back in 2010, well before the Medicaid expansion essentially took effect in 2014. The Medicaid expansion isn't driving increased drug-related deaths. Instead, states may have adopted the Medicaid expansion partly to treat a growing opioid problem.
Moreover, the main drivers of recent spikes in overdose deaths are non-prescription opioids like heroin and fentanyl, not the prescription drugs that Medicaid covers. In fact, deaths due to prescription opioids have leveled off since 2011, national
Rolling back Medicaid coverage would reverse expansion states' drug treatment gains. Expansion states have reduced the unmet need for the treatment of substance use disorders by 18 percent. All states' Medicaid programs cover at least one medically assisted treatment medication, and the Medicaid expansion has granted health coverage to an estimated 99,000 people with an opioid use disorder.
To be sure, as Republican Senator
To reduce unlawful prescribing, policymakers should take steps to address that problem rather than roll back coverage gains. States should adopt best practices in drug monitoring programs outlined by the
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