Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'It’s Too Important Not To Get Right': Trump Supporters Decry Cuts They Say Will Exacerbate Opioid Crisis
Stat: She Hoped Trump Would Curb The Opioid Crisis. The Results So Far Worry Her
[Leigh Anne] Wilson lost her daughter, 21-year-old Taylor, to an opioid overdose last year. Weeks later, she voted for Trump, won over by his pledge to fight the opioid crisis by building a wall to keep out drugs — and by reforming health care. She is not impressed with how things are going so far....Like Trump, Wilson thinks Obamacare is broken. But she doesn’t believe that rushing through the GOP health care plan is the answer. The bill now before the Senate would make deep cuts in Medicaid spending and phase out the extra federal funds that Obamacare gave states to expand Medicaid. That funding accounts for nearly half of all spending on substance abuse treatment in West Virginia, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. (Blau, 6/26)
The Hill: Opioid Crisis Threatens GOP ObamaCare Repeal
Fears that cuts to Medicaid could exacerbate a national opioid epidemic that took more American lives last year than the Vietnam War have emerged as a huge threat to the Senate GOP's ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill. The legislation includes a $2 billion fund to help people with substance use disorders, but critics say that's not enough to make up for the deep cuts to Medicaid that would come if the bill becomes law. (Toubein, 6/24)
In other news on the crisis —
Stat: 51 Percent Of Opioid Prescriptions Go To People With Depression And Anxiety
More than half of all opioid prescriptions in the United States are written for people with anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders, according to a new study that questions how pain is treated in this vulnerable population. People with mood disorders are at increased risk of abusing opioids, and yet they received many more prescriptions than the general population, according to an analysis of data from 2011 and 2013. (Caruso, 6/26)
The Washington Post: Greater Opioid Use And Mental Health Disorders Are Linked In A New Study
A new study suggests that people with anxiety and depression are consuming a disproportionate share of prescription painkillers, a finding that could add a new wrinkle to the epidemic of opioid use in the United States. Researchers at Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan found that nearly 19 percent of the estimated 38.6 million people with those two most common mental health disorders received at least two prescriptions for opioids during a year. And more than half the prescriptions for the powerful, highly addictive painkillers went to individuals in that group, the researchers asserted. (Bernstein, 6/26)
Arizona Republic: Former Insys Executives Face Probes Over Opioid Spray, Deaths
Limiting pain pill fills, distributing overdose antidotes and declaring a public-health emergency are pillars of the state’s effort to attack an opioid epidemic that has killed an average of two Arizonans every day. But Arizona so far has not joined the growing number of states that have filed lawsuits or pursued investigations against pharmaceutical companies that market opioid drugs. (Alltucker, 6/23)
Washington Examiner: Naloxone For Opioid Overdoses Still Faces Hurdles In Schools
States are increasingly turning to schools as they work to stave off the devastating opioid epidemic, which is claiming a growing number of lives and ravaging the lifespans of middle-aged white people. Yet local laws prevent some districts from stocking a life-saving antidote, and critics worry it won't discourage drug use. A 2015 law in Rhode Island took the most aggressive approach by requiring all public middle, junior and high schools be equipped with naloxone, which reverses the effects of an overdose when someone passes out. (Leonard, 6/26)
Health News Florida: Feds Warn First Responders Of Accidental Overdose
Accidental opioid overdoses by first responders are an alarming phenomenon. Now the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is warning police and firefighters to take special precautions in case they encounter synthetic opioids like fentanyl. (Haden, 6/23)
The Washington Post: Oklahoma Doctor Charged With Murder After Patients Overdose On Opioids
On Nov. 21, 2012, Sheila Bartels walked out of the Sunshine Medical Center in Oklahoma with a prescription for a "horrifyingly excessive" cocktail of drugs capable of killing her several times over. A short time later, she was at a pharmacy, receiving what drug addicts call “the holy trinity” of prescription drugs: the powerful painkiller Hydrocodone, the anti-anxiety medication Xanax and a muscle relaxant known as Soma. (Wootson, 6/24)
