Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes On The Opioid Crisis
Bloomberg: Congress Will Be Different In 2018: Opioid Epidemic, ACA Reforms
Last year, congressional Republicans had the leverage to ram through a huge tax cut, repeal the requirement to buy health-insurance coverage, and put a conservative jurist on the Supreme Court. This year the tables have turned. Democrats, though still in the minority, have more leverage on spending and responses to the opioid epidemic, and maybe also on immigration and infrastructure and revisions to the Affordable Care Act. (Albert Hunt, 1/7)
USA Today: Postal Service: We're Fighting Opioid Crisis
The U.S. Postal Service is deeply concerned about America’s opioid crisis and has been working aggressively with law enforcement and key trading partners to stem the flow of illegal drugs entering the United States. In collaboration with federal agencies and state and local law enforcement, improved investigative techniques have increased our ability to interdict opioids such as fentanyl. From fiscal year 2016 through 2017, the Postal Inspection Service has achieved a 375% increase in international parcel seizures and an 880% increase in domestic parcel seizures related to opioids. (Guy Cottrell, 1/7)
USA Today: Focus On Fentanyl Shipments
With people across the country dying at the rate of 53 a day from overdoses of fentanyl and similar compounds — now the leading killers in the opioid epidemic — efforts to stop this scourge ought to come from every corner of the federal government. But even as President Trump has declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency, some agencies have failed to act as if it is one. (1/7)
The Des Moines Register: Opioid Crisis Is Not A Partisan Problem
A generation ago, doctors prescribed opioids as a last resort for pain, with great respect for the addictive nature of these powerful drugs. But over the past 20 years, opioid drug manufacturers, led by Purdue Pharma, have engaged in an aggressive marketing campaign that redefined the way doctors treat both acute and chronic pain. (Iowa Attorney General Tom MIller, 1/5)
