Medicaid and the Opioid Epidemic: Enrollment, Spending, and the Implications of Proposed Policy Changes
Issue Brief
Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Results from the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (Rockville MD, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, September 2016), https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-DetTabs-2015/NSDUH-DetTabs-2015/NSDUH-DetTabs-2015.pdf.
We use the phrase “opioid addiction” in this paper. The medical community also refers to it as “opioid use disorder.”
Julia Zur, “Medicaid’s Role in Addressing the Opioid Epidemic,” (Washington DC: Kaiser Family Foundation, June 2017), http://www.kff.org/infographic/medicaids-role-in-addressing-opioid-epidemic/.
The BCRA does allow the HHS Secretary to exclude up to $5 billion of spending nationally on public health emergencies from the allotted amounts calculated through states’ per capita caps from 2020 through 2024, although the Secretary of HHS must declare both the emergency as applicable and the amount excluded as appropriate. This amount is shared among all states and among all types of public health emergencies.
Julia Zur, “6 Things to Know about Uninsured Adults with Opioid Addiction,” (Washington DC: Kaiser Family Foundation, May 2017), http://www.kff.org/uninsured/fact-sheet/6-things-to-know-about-uninsured-adults-with-opioid-addiction/.
H.R. 1628, Discussion Draft, Title II Section 202, https://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BetterCareJuly13.2017.pdf.
Sarah Karlin-Smith, “Critics pan opioid cash designed to deliver moderates,” Politico, June 29, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/29/opioids-cash-senate-health-bill-240071.
Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Susan Scutti, “New hepatitis C infections triple due to opioid epidemic,” CNN, May 11, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/11/health/hepatitis-c-rates-cdc-study/index.html.
“Viral Hepatitis C FAQs for Health Professionals,” CDC, accessed July 12, 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/hcvfaq.htm.
Scutti, op cit.