quote:
Overdose deaths aren’t the only measure of opioid abuse. Another is hospital and emergency-room admissions. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the number of opioid-related inpatient hospital stays nationwide (among states submitting data) that were paid for by Medicaid increased by about 40% between the fourth quarters of 2012 and 2014—about four times the rate of growth in Medicaid enrollment. Patient stays covered by private insurance increased 4% during this period.

If we are going to have the government this involved in medicine it is time to end the government financing of opioid use.

Did Medicaid Spur Opioid Abuse

Proponents of medicaid point out that medicaid really didn't add to the problem and has drub abuse treatment programs as one of it's benefits. It is absurd to think that vastly increasing the amount of opioid supply does not contribute to more abuse.

quote:
Overdose deaths aren’t the only measure of opioid abuse. Another is hospital and emergency-room admissions. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the number of opioid-related inpatient hospital stays nationwide (among states submitting data) that were paid for by Medicaid increased by about 40% between the fourth quarters of 2012 and 2014—about four times the rate of growth in Medicaid enrollment. Patient stays covered by private insurance increased 4% during this period.

Hospital and emergency-room admissions after 2013 likewise increased more in expansion states than in nonexpansion states with similar demographics and geography. It’s true that opioid-related visits by the uninsured dropped in many expansion states. But that can’t entirely account for the increase in Medicaid-paid hospitalizations. Between 2012 and 2014, emergency-room visits by Medicaid patients in Ohio doubled; enrollment increased 10%. But visits by the uninsured and Medicaid beneficiaries combined increased 40% during this period, which suggests an overall increase of use among low-income populations.

So what could help explain the apparent association between Medicaid and opioid abuse? For one, Medicaid patients may be more likely to be prescribed opioids—twice as likely, according to two studies, as privately insured individuals. A recent study by Express Scripts Holding found that about a quarter of Medicaid patients were prescribed an opioid in 2015.

State Medicaid programs also favor generics over more expensive branded painkillers with abuse-deterrent formulas. According to the Express Scripts study, generics accounted for 90% of Medicaid opioid medication claims. Large doses of oxycodone, methadone and fentanyl can be obtained cheaply with a Medicaid card and resold for a nice profit on the black market. Sen. Johnson’s review of recent open-source court files and news articles turned up 261 defendants who had been convicted of improperly using Medicaid cards to obtain prescription opioids.

Many states in recent years have set up databases to identify patients at risk for abuse based on the number of prescriptions they fill and pharmacies they visit. But often providers, particularly in emergency rooms where many Medicaid patients seek treatment, don’t have time to check the databases, examine patients for abuse, perform follow-up consultations, or consider alternative analgesics or physical therapy.

These problems have become even more acute following the expansion. Many primary-care providers won’t see Medicaid patients because of the low reimbursement rates, so emergency rooms have been inundated with patients. The wait to see a specialist can last months. Many Medicaid beneficiaries suffering from pain or substance abuse may not be getting the treatment they need.

Why not keep the drug abuse treatment benefits in medicaid and stop the medicaid financing of such dangerous drugs?

This post was edited on 10/14/17 at 8:02 am