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  • The Opioid Epidemic and Medicaid’s Role in Facilitating Access to Treatment

    Issue Brief

    This brief describes nonelderly adults with opioid use disorder, including their demographic characteristics and insurance status, and compares utilization of treatment services among those with Medicaid to those with other types of coverage. It also describes Medicaid financing for opioid treatment and the ways in which Medicaid promotes access to treatment for enrollees with OUD.

  • Governors’ Proposed Budgets for FY 2019: Focus on Medicaid and Other Health Priorities

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief provides Medicaid highlights from governors’ proposed budgets for state fiscal year (FY) 2019 (July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019 in most states). Proposed budgets reflect the priorities of the governor and are often blueprints for the legislature to consider. In total, we reviewed 39 proposed state budgets and text from 46 state of the state speeches. This review revealed that while state revenue collections improved in 2017 compared to 2016, considerable…

  • The Opioid Epidemic and Medicaid’s Role in Treatment: A Look at Changes Over Time

    Feature

    This chart pack provides data on opioid addiction, overdose deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits from 2005-2015. It also includes data on Medicaid’s growing role in covering people receiving treatment for opioid addiction, and discusses the potential impact of Medicaid restructuring as proposed in the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the Senate's bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

  • Will Availability of Over-the-Counter Narcan Increase Access?

    Policy Watch

    Making Narcan available OTC has the potential to expand access, but several obstacles may limit its reach. Decisions by pharmacies on whether to stock OTC Narcan, the product's placement within stores, and lingering stigmas can impact accessibility. Furthermore, public knowledge plays a role; many people may not realize that OTC Narcan is available without a prescription from a doctor and that insurance may help cover the costs.

  • Analysis Finds Specialty Drugs Rank High Among Medicaid’s Most Costly Outpatient Drugs

    News Release

    Costly specialty drugs, such as those used to treat Hepatitis C and HIV, are among the most costly medications in state Medicaid programs, chiefly because of their high prices for a course of treatment, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Medicaid’s most costly outpatient drugs. Abilify, an antiphsychotic used in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was the most costly drug in state Medicaid programs overall in the new analysis, which…

  • Most Americans Report a Personal Connection to Those Who Have Abused Prescription Painkillers; Whites More Likely To Be Affected Than Blacks or Hispanics

    News Release

    Poll Finds 9% Say a Family Member or Close Friend Died of an Overdose; 27% Say Either They or Someone Close to Them Has Been Addicted On the ACA This Month, 45 Percent View the Law Unfavorably and 38 Percent View It Favorably With prescription painkiller abuse garnering more attention from the media and policymakers, the latest Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll finds most Americans have a personal connection to the issue. In total,…

  • Why Painkiller Addiction and Abuse Are Rising Health-Care Priorities

    News Release

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman uses new polling to explore why painkiller abuse and addiction is rising as a health issue among state and federal policymakers. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.