Steve Birr reports for the Daily Caller on government’s role in the national opioid epidemic.
One of the largest entitlement programs in the country is incentivizing prescription drug trafficking and exacerbating the national opioid epidemic, according to a Senate report.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs released a Major Staff report Wednesday, which details how Medicaid policies governing prescription drug prices, expanded at the state level through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014, “perversely” incentivize opioid abuse and illicit sales, as well as larger scale trafficking operations involving both criminal drug lords and respected doctors.
The report, commissioned by committee Chairman Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, notes the causes of the opioid epidemic are wide ranging and multifaceted, and says the committee does not, “deny the benefits that federal spending on healthcare provides to millions of Americans,” or claim Medicaid is the primary force behind the addiction crisis.
The Majority Staff Report presents evidence that financial incentives provided through Medicaid are negatively contributing to the ongoing addiction crisis, contradicting the common media narrative that Medicaid expansion under the ACA is essential to combating the epidemic because of its funding for addiction treatment programs.
