Latest News On Opioids

Latest KFF Health News Stories

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Cue The Drug Price Debate

KFF Health News Original

Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee unveiled their long-awaited proposal to try to rein in prescription drug costs, even as bipartisan leaders of the other Senate committee that oversees health announced it would not bring its drug price bill to the Senate floor until fall. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this, plus court actions on health issues.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Biden Doubles Down On Obamacare

KFF Health News Original

Presidential candidate Joe Biden unveiled a health plan intended to provide a more moderate alternative to his competitors’ “Medicare for All” plans. It would build on the Affordable Care Act but would go much further. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this, plus Planned Parenthood’s very bad week, the U.S. House vote to repeal the health law’s “Cadillac tax” on generous health plans, and the reduction in deaths from opioids.

Florida Is The Latest Republican-Led State To Adopt Clean Needle Exchanges

KFF Health News Original

Florida has struggled for years with opioid overdoses — and the highest rate of HIV infection in the U.S. Lawmakers now hope needle exchanges and a “harm reduction” approach could help save lives.

Opioid Operators: How Surgeons Ply Patients With Painkillers

KFF Health News Original

Even as awareness of the opioid crisis grew, prescribing habits of surgeons changed very little from 2011 to 2016, found a data analysis by KHN and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Use this interactive tool to search by doctor or practicing hospital.

Federal Grants ‘A Lifesaver’ In Opioid Fight, But States Still Struggle To Curb Meth

KFF Health News Original

The federal government has doled out at least $2.4 billion in state grants since 2017 to address the opioid epidemic, which killed 47,600 people in the U.S. that year alone. But local officials note that drug abuse problems seldom involve only one substance.

Drug Users Armed With Naloxone Double As Medics On Streets Of San Francisco

KFF Health News Original

The widespread availability of naloxone, which reverses overdoses, has radically changed the culture of opioid use on the streets, giving drug users a sense of security and inducing them to seek out the more powerful high of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Oklahoma’s ‘Precedent-Setting’ Suit Puts Opioid Drugmakers On Trial

KFF Health News Original

As states struggle to respond to the national drug crisis, officials around the country are watching Oklahoma. The state’s attorney general says opioid drugmakers helped ignite a health crisis that has killed thousands of residents.