Medicaid Could be Perpetuating the Opioid Crisis

(Spring 2018) Since 2010, at least 1,072 people in the U.S. have been convicted or charged with misusing Medicaid to obtain prescription opioids. A Republican report from the Senate of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee stated some of those prescription opioids were even resold on the streets for others to obtain illegally. The country has also seen an 18% increase in criminal defendants in the four years after Medicaid expanded under the Affordable Care Act.

However, the committee’s chairman, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, did note that the opioid epidemic was not caused solely by Medicaid expansion and recognized it as an “unintended consequence” as mentioned by USA Today. The misuse ranged from abusing the opioids that were prescribed, selling prescription opioids on the streets, and doctor shopping to get the same prescription from multiple medical practitioners. The report also stated drug overdose deaths had risen twice as fast, per one million people, in Medicaid expansion states compared to non-expansion states.

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